December 2
Left San Francisco at 1ish in the morning, ate breakfast at 4ish our time, changed planes in San Salvador early morning and landed in Guatemala mid-morning, a little delayed from the schedule and exhausted.
Similarly to when we arrived in Seattle and were greeted by Mount Rainier, we were greeted in Guatemala by another volcano as we descended to al Aurora aeropuerto. I think it is el Fuego.
After walking down a long sterile hallway and getting through customs and immigration with no questions whatsoever, we emerged into the cacophony of sights and sounds that is Guatemala. People picking up family and friends at the airport don’t go inside; they wait outside the front doors amidst a carnival atmosphere with hawkers selling snacks, balloons, trinkets, etc. In the midst of this joyful chaos we were able to find our driver holding up a sign with the name of our destination -- Earthlodge. Gracias Deus.
The drive took us through a maze of city streets past tin roof shacks mixed with a potpourri of businesses, occasionally with American names -- Nike, Burger King, Domino’s -- looking incongruous in this very Latin culture. Then up through the hills into the valley of La Antigua, surrounded by several volcanoes -- quite active ones as you shall see.
The drive through Antigua and up the mountain to Earthlodge was increasingly brain rattling and nerve wracking. Bouncing over the cobblestone streets of the town - I’ll give you a taste of that in a later post - hairpin turns on a smoother but very narrow road - then onto an even narrower and bumpy dirt road, past a little Maya village and school, around a blind curve with a sheer drop on one side, and finally stopping at the village well where the mujeres do their laundry. Loading up our bags for a hike down a steep dirt path to the lodge - thank goodness David was able to carry one of my bags plus his own or I would have had to just sit on my bottom and slide down.
However, the exhausting trip made the arrival all the more sweet. Such a gorgeous view! After a delicious lunch we were taken to our treehouse for a refreshing nap. It was down another steep path, but I paid a strong young man to transport my bags this time.
Making it up the hill later for dinner was all on my own though and I had to stop a few times for a breather. Dinner at the lodge is family style and we had the opportunity to talk to other travelers from around the world, all quite a bit younger than us but they didn’t seem to mind. Good thing we had a strong flashlight with us for the trip back down to the cabin - it gets dark pretty early here. Enjoyed looking out over the lights of Antigua from our porch and listening to the night sounds for a bit before crashing.
The next morning, we woke to a gorgeous view of the volcanoes across the valley. And, as I was watching, one of them blew off a big cloud of smoke and ash.
Back up that hill - a little easier this time - for breakfast looking over the valley. That day, we just lazed around reading and enjoying the view.
Our son, Ian, has worked at this lodge several time over the past few years and It was fun to meet some of his friends, in particular Brianna, co-owner of the lodge, and Bernard, who rents a house at Lake Atitlan each year but happened to be visiting Earthlodge while we were there. We also got to know some other visitors - Liz, for instance, from Brussels, traveling for the past year on her own throughout Latin America, including a trip up the Amazon River to Columbia in a riverboat sleeping in a hammock. We are such neophyte travelers compared to her! She helped me learn how to use my Instagram account. When we left her, she was on her way to Nicaragua. You can follow her at liz_on_the_road
After another night enjoying sleeping on the edge of the mountain in our cozy treehouse with the fresh air blowing through and the night lullaby of insect noises, we departed for our trip to Lake Atitlan (with a brief overnight in Antigua). That is the next post. Hasta manana.
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