La Ceiba

After a 13 hours trip with the yoga lady from america we got to La Ceiba. La Ceiba has nothing to offer, besides fast food chains, shitty hostels and crime. So – eating – sleeping – eating – let’s get out of here.

Livingston

The boat trip from Rio Dulce to Livingston is according to the Lonley Planet one of the highlights of central america. They didn’t write, that if it rains, that you are going to get soaked. Besides of that, I have to admit that it was really nice – we visited some “agua calientes” and saw some nice flowers and animals.
Livingston would be my kind a town. Extremly laid back with a strong Garifuna culture. Similar to Belize. In hostel ”Iguana” I drank some wine out of the TetraPak and watched two movies in a row. Afterwards I checked out the tiny city. After diminishing the hopes of all the local dealers, I spent the day with the 50 year old lady from Washington and 3 german girls. The one thing that I didn’t like about Livingston is, that you can’t swim in the ocean because it’s polluted and there is no beach. But that was exactly what I was looking for. So the next day I wanted to race to Utila, Honduras. Everybody said that it’s possible in one day. Well that just proofes that nobody has an idea what the hell they are talking about.

Rio Dulce

After a long busdrive I decided to go to a hostel that is owned by some swiss guys. I had to take a boat across the lake to reach the swamp, on what it is build on. A nice hut-style hostel in the middle of the jungle and a calme sidearm of the lake. Everything seemed nice. Than I wen’t to the bar to have a chat with the guys and to get the daily alcohol dosis. Well at first it was about getting to know them. Than it was about finding out why they talk stuff that normally lunatics have a monopoly on. It ended in a full scale war about a range of things. They don’t beleave Neil Armstrong was on the moon; They don’t beleave in the exploration of space; They think it doesn’t make sense to do research; and the best of them all: They think the american goverment orchastrated 9/11. Well we had a nice chat there. In the morning I had to leave.

Antigua

Rachel, Grace and me roard twoards Antigua through a dusty valley of nothing. After prooving my map skills we finally got an hostel - bedbugs included. Rage an I ordered a lot of Cuba Libre because it was Ladys Night. Next Day we found out that there is nothing you can do in Antigua so we decided that we might as well could get drunk. So we chilled in the parc during the afternoon and got drunk with Matt. In the evening we got another big bottle and 5 of us got wasted at the hostel "Black Cat". The next day we went to the volcano "Pacaya" where we witnessed lava and even ate some marshmellow, that we heated on the lava. "Frank the Tank" was drunk to begin with, climbed antennas without permission and got lost in the woods while the night settled in. The next day we split because I have already been to Lanquin. So I travelled by my own to Rio Dulce.

San Marcos/ San Pedro Laguna

After a ridiculouse 12 hours journey over Guatemala City and Antigua my boat finally arrived in San Marcos, where I wanted to study spanish. This place in famouse as a yoga retreat. You could take courses for a whole mooncycle and meditate in primitiv pyramids that are located according to some really mystical stars. During the last week you are not allowed to talk and you have to fast. Crazy shit. Since there were no partys in the evening and the lessons were expensive I switched to the other side of the lake.

San Pedro Laguna is the best party city in Guatemala. A lot of turists try their first hard drugs here and a lot of people stay here for years. So it's possible that you encounter dudes at 10 AM sitting on the side of the road first whispering and than yelling "Monkeytrousers".
I finally found my spanish school and signed up for the afternoon. Sitting in a nice garden on a small table. On the other side was this 20 year old mayan girl. After starting with a little chat we talked some more and more. Than finally I asked if this is the lesson and got an "of course" in return. There were no concepts, no modules, no books and she even didn't speack any English. So I had to step on the breaks and finish this rendez-vous style school. From then on I stack to my books and learned by myself. In the evenings I hung out with an austrian girl named Bianca until I crossed Matt's and Kalib's way. Naturally we got wasted. Young americans tend to consume hard drugs like candy. I was fine with the rum. The days past with learning in the afternoon and partying in the evening. Than Rachel and Grace came back from Mexico. I surprised them at the harbour with Matt. We were sitting in the bar at the lakeside for 4 hours becouse the girls were late. So we were in pretty drunken state. But sober enough for another beer. The next few days we went kayaking, eating nice food and enjoing the nightlife. Life got easy, very easy.

Lanquin/ Semuc

After an 8 hours trip from Flores to Lanquin I stayed in the nicely situated "El Retiro" hostel and took a hammock for 2.5 Dollar. At that point I travelled with William, who was born in England and than moved to Toulouse. He's now working on the black market. After hanging out at the hostel and the village I decided to walk to Semuc with the french guy. After 2.5 hours through the moutainouse midlands of Guatemala we came to this remote valley that was formed by a calme looking river. The locals there and on the whole way were very friendly and constantly tryed to sell us chocolate.

The parc of Semuc is a barage of waterfalls that were formed over millions of years. Nowadays the river flows beneath the "cascades". Only a little bit of the water manages to flow on top to make this already impressive site a gorgeous swimming oppurtinity. After enjoying a nice swim in several of the turquise pools we (the british chess lady joined us) hiked up to the "Mirador" from where you can estimate the scope of the whole place. The bumby road back was 2 dollars and took an half an hour. First thing in the morning I jumped on a bus to travel to Lago de Atitlan. Surprisingly Matt was on the bus.

Flores

After beeing scamed for 3 Dollars at the border Timmy took a bumby collectivo to Flores a.k.a. Gringo Island. While staying in "Los Amigos" and desparatly trying to get some money out of these ATM's he was able to get to know the atmosphere of Guatemala. The city looks like an african city with latinos. Tuk Tuks and dust make up 50 % of the experience. Burger King and beer were the evening program.
The following day Grace and Rachel joined me. Thats a good thing. That meant there will be more jokes with " fish and penetration" coming up. We wen't together to Tikal to see the ruins. Amazing structures in the middle of the jungle. With some cool wildlife.
In the evening we crashed in the cheap bar at the seashore anf finally listend to a live snorring concert in the dorm. The following day we chilled while canoeing on the lake. Since I missed the bus in the morning I'm down to crash for another day - nap in the afternoon and beers and loughs in the evening.