During their time here in Guatemala we traveled all around the country, some of which was already documented in our earlier post "Semuc Champey". However, there were many other activities and festivities to be had besides gallivanting in Alta Verapaz. I will expand on some of the highlights during this post. Better late than never! Right?
As mentioned earlier, we spent quite a bit of time in the Alta Verapaz region of Guatemala. They are known for their lush cloud forests and natural beauty in this part of the country. For this reason, we decided to take a trip to an orchid nursery just outside of Cobán to see the hundreds of varieties they grow. In the picture above, Nancy is posing with a 26 year old gigantic orchid; it's one of the many we admired. Some favorites were an orchid that smelled of vanilla bean and many varieties of tiny "mini-orchids" with flowers the size of a grain of rice.
After our adventures in Alta Verapaz, we headed back to Quiché to celebrate the holidays and show off where we've been living all this time. (*Special thanks to Andy and Tomasa for hosting Nancy and René at their house for 4 nights!*) One of our festivities included attending a Christmas party at the fire station where Toby has been volunteering as a fireman. All the other members brought their families to participate in multiple piñatas , dinner, and a gift exchange. (Please note: We've learned that gift baskets here are not like at home. Here it is common to get nuts, grapes, marshmallows, and chocolate.) We also visited the famous Chichicastenango market, in our neighboring town, to pick up a few Christmas gifts and show off the plethora of artisan crafts available in Guatemala.
Christmas Eve is actually more of a big deal in Guatemala than Christmas Day, so we went over to Andy and Tomasa's house to celebrate with Tomasa's family in more of a Guatemalan fashion. We all ate dinner (including traditional tamales at midnight) and drank ponche (a "punch" more like fruit cider, served hot, and made with fresh and dried fruit.) At midnight we all went up on the roof to watch the entire city explode with fireworks. Individuals all over the city and in neighboring towns all light fireworks at the same time, creating a massive display everywhere you look...and quickly creating a huge haze of smoke over the city too.
Since we had all the Guatemalan festivities prior to Christmas Day, actual Christmas wasn't a huge ordeal. The four of us exchanged gifts, which lasted about 30 minutes! Toby and I were fortunate enough to also have a few other gifts brought down by Nancy and René. Thanks friends and fam . Mostly we all just hung out during the day and took a little walk on the road to the ruins. And, to continue in the very non-traditional holiday celebration we ordered 2 x 1 pizza for dinner.
In continuation of their Guatemalan tour, we took René and Nancy to the famous and beautiful Lake Atitlán. We stopped off in Panajachel to visit our favorite coffee shop in Guatemala - Crossroads Café - and chat with our friend, the owner. After browsing the souvenirs a bit and grabbing a bite to eat, we headed over to San Pedro LaLaguna. If you know San Pedro...then you know this trip wasn't complete without plenty of pan de canela, pan de banano, pan de chocolate, and so on. We also took advantage of our other fav restaurants Fata Morgana (for coffee and fresh baked goods) and Zoola (for slow-ass service, but great atmosphere and tasty cheap veggie food). In addition to stuffing our faces, we also enjoyed watching all the coffee processing that was taking place.Atitlán is one of the 5 great coffee growing regions in Guatemala. (The others being San Marcos, Huehuetenango, Antigua, and Cobán .) Day and night the beans were run through machines to wash, soak, and split them apart. Afterwards they dry out the beans in the sun in any flat space available. In the picture above we are sitting next to the drying coffee beans. During the trip Nancy even ate and enjoyed some of the fresh coffee "cherries" right off the trees.
Another fun activity was our 2 hour kayak session where we took advantage of the sun and warmth. We all paddled across the river to a beach for laying out. We had it all to ourselves, except for the handful of cows mooing amongst the banana trees.
Of course a trip to Guatemala is not complete without visiting the famous UNESCO world heritage site of La Antigua. So last but not least, we spent a couple of night in Antigua, mainly walking the streets and appreciating the beauty of the city. We did enjoy people watching in the Parque Central and walking up to the Cerro de la Cruz viewpoint over the city. And René even got his shoes shined by one of the many people working in the park.
On the last night of their visit, Toby and René hiked the Pacaya volcano to have a little male bonding. Their barco barco group was an afternoon/evening hike, so they were able to see the lava at night as well. Thinking ahead, they brought some of the many leftover Christmas marshmallows to roast over the warm lava rocks. Meanwhile, Nancy and I enjoyed some girl time eating yummy Indian food and browsing all the adorable boutiques in Antigua.
All in all, René and Nancy's trip to Guatemala was a very memorable 2 weeks. We covered so much territory in the country and hit all the major stops on the "gringo tango" except Tikal. We had to leave something to inspire them to come back again some day!
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