Road trip pt.1 Antigua, Pacaya volcano and Iximché ruins

PHOTO ALBUM —>> https://photos.app.goo.gl/UdtqvrheGQrbKRch7

The road trip begins:

After weeks of being in the Rio Dulce area, putting up with the incessant heat and regular routine I felt it was time for a trip to the mountains. We had said we would do a bike trip, but again this idea was rejected, you can’t take much with you on a bike, but in a car you can. Some friends had expressed an interest in our trip and so we asked if they were still interested. In the end there were 3 couples Chris and Caroline; Hattie and Phill and us who set off on the Litegua bus for Antigua one Sunday morning.

We arrived at a very nice Airbnb, just outside of Antigua and settled in.

Off for a stroll around and to find a place to have dinner we all went. We finally settled on a pub type of cuisine for our meal. There are just so many nice places to eat in Antigua.

Antigua

The following day John and Chris set off to pick up a hire car at Guatemala City airport, Hattie and Phill to explore Antigua and Caroline and myself to make our arrangements, get tourist info and book a Pacaya Volcano hike for the following day.

We were very successful finding the main tourist information office and then the Rainbow Travel Agency. We got loads of information plus booked our trip to the volcano. John and Chris were very successful too, arriving in Antigua with our hire car in the early afternoon. Hattie and Phill too saw a good bit of the Antigua area.

Iglesia La Merced

During the afternoon we walked around enjoying a few of the sites. We visited Iglesia La Merced and its ruins. This church was first established as a male monastery and Mercedarians were the first religious order to have a men’s convent in Guatemala.

The church was almost finished when hot water erupted from Agua Volcano and came rushing down destroying much in its path. The church was rebuilt, and the ruins of the monastery remain. The water fountain found in the courtyard was designed as a waterlily.

We enjoyed the view from the roof, of the old monastery, explored the cooperative market where dozens of crafts are for sale for just so little

and had a lovely chai in a coffee shop.

It was John’s birthday and I had found an Indian restaurant for dinner. We all went out and had a lovely dinner of curry!

Hattie and Phill had a small cake for John’s dessert.

Pacaya volcano

Our volcano trip arrangements were that we were to be on the road in front of a nearby hotel before 6:00am, so we all were up bright and early out and walking to the nearby hotel by 5:40 just as it was getting light. We arrived in plenty of time and proceeded to wait, and wait.

We watched the volcano Fuete spew out hot ash, people pass by on their way to work and the increasing traffic drive past. Just as we were phoning the Rainbow travel agency our driver showed up. He had had a flat tire, even had the tire with him which he dropped off at the nearby service station. Next we whizzed around Antigua picking up the others on the trip and then we were flying down roads and lanes to get to Pacaya volcano.

Pacaya stands at a whopping 8,373 feet tall and the trek has an elevation gain of around 1,500 feet. Pacaya is described as an active complex volcano. It first erupted approximately 23,000 years ago and has erupted at least 23 times since the Spanish invasion of Guatemala.

The hike starts at the welcome center in the hamlet of San Francisco de Sales and takes about 2 hours to hike to the top. At the start the walkers are offered hiking sticks, which to me would be a must have.

There were two options to either climb or ride a horse up the volcano. John, Hattie and Phill chose to climb, Chris, Caroline and myself to ride the horses. We were presented with our mounts and guides then with the challenge of getting into the saddle.

Up the pathways we went following the walkers, stopping at rest points where the guide would point out different points of interest. John reported it was a moderate climb, but with the altitude of over 8,000 feet made it a bit more challenging.

The pathway up starts off up a shaded but well groomed path where at some stages stones have been laid to form steps. I was surprised the horses were good on stairs, but then doing them everyday would make them pros. We came to an area where there was more and more volcanic rock and loose volcanic gravel, the trees gave way to an open landscape where we could see the black slopes of the volcano.

At a fence we demounted and were pointed to where to go. From here it was a climb in the loose volcanic rock and gravel up to where we were to cook marshmallows over the heat of the volcano. Now through the soles of my hiking sandals I could feel the heat coming through the rocks.

The loose lava rocks are actually somewhat slippery as they do slide as you walk upwards. There were plants that tolerated the heat and able to grow.

Plus there were dogs who were roaming around looking for scrapes of marshmallows to eat.

We awaited our turns to roast the marshmallows, finally my turn came and bending to the roasting area I could feel the increase of heat. The marshmallows took no time to melt and then I was back with the others eating the gooey melted mallow. (Some folks were toasting cheese sandwiches too)

After a wander around we were down to where we started. Then it was back in the saddle for the ride down.

Going down was definitely harder as l had to lean back and most of the time and my horse liked to take a small jump when going down drops and steps, but it was enjoyable, always fun to ride a horse.

We were back in Antigua in early afternoon where we got off the bus with Hattie and Phill and had a lovely lunch at a favorite cafe. Then it was off to buy supplies for our up-coming journey into the mountains. That evening we enjoyed an evening in our Airbnb eating a dinner of chicken wings and salad.

In the morning John drove Hattie and Phill to the car rental office. There they were picking up their vehicle and had decided to drive to the Pacific Ocean.

Iximché ruins

Off towards Lake Atitlan we – Caroline, Chris and us two -travelled the next morning stopping along the way at the Iximché ruins. These are well preserved and are located on a hilltop in the higher and cooler Sierra Mountains. The site’s surrounding scenery is lovely with steep slopes and pine trees.

The ruins of Iximché are actually late Post-Classic Maya. The “city” was ruled by the Kaqchikel from the 12 – 15th century and was the ancient capital of the Maya Kakchiquel Indians, Guatemala’s first capital for “The Kingdom of Goathemala.”

This is a wonderful Mayan site and as it was earlier in the morning it was not at all crowded. We all enjoyed wandering around. The architecture here includes a number of pyramid-temples, palaces and two Mesoamerican ball-courts. At the time of the Spanish conquest Iximche, was the second most important city in the Guatemalan Highlands. Iximché was burned in 1526 by Spanish.

Mayan rituals are still performed at this site on important occasions and we found that there was indeed a religious ceremony being practiced at the area where such ceremony’s are still conducted.

As for what the ceremony was I am not at all sure. The mound where the ceremony’s take place had many crevices with candles burning and small offerings that varied from food items to flowers. In fact there were 3 different groups celebrating there.

One group with a shaman was directly in front using a large fire pit, candles, flowers and petals, and various other items. To their side another group that were not so traditionally dressed were starting a ceremony at another smaller fire pit, while behind there was a shaman and 2 ladies in traditional dress smoking something from these huge pipes. They constantly sat still, almost trancelike inhaling and exhaling, just staring ahead at the mound. It all was fascinating, we watched for a good while.

We made a stop before descending to Solola and Panajachel at a small local eatery and had a delicious local meal.

As it was afternoon the clouds were descending upon the lake so the magnificent view was hidden from us. We arrived in Panajachel and then took a while to find our newest Airbnb.

This one was just a few streets out of the center and so quite convenient. It was inside a gated group of homes with a nice garden, a roof top patio and very comfortable kitchen, lounge and kitchen we all were happy.