Ancient Mayan Ruins and Volcanic Marshmallow Roasting in Guatemala

International travel is addicting. With one email and a click of a few buttons, I can book a ticket to some far off and exotic land I've never been to before. When Spirit announced its deals for the end of summer/beginning of fall, I found myself buying tickets to Guatemala for a four day weekend the week before fall semester started. 

Upon arrival to Guatemala City, our group hopped on a bus and headed into town. We bought bus tickets to Tikal, a 12 hour bus ride across the country. I was slightly unprepared for this trip. I had assumed that, especially since it was August, temperatures would be akin to those in El Salvador. However, the elevation combined with the overcast skies caught me off guard and I had not packed a jacket, which proved somewhat miserable for this bus ride. To make things worse, the bus broke down in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere. A truck came and picked up a majority of the people on our bus and we were left sitting there until another bus came to get us a few hours later. We arrived in Flores, a nearby city, around 2 or 3 AM. The first few hostels we went to were full but we eventually found one with available beds.

The next morning, we took a taxi to Tikal. The taxi was unlike any I had ever experienced. Accustom to taxis in New York City or Boston, I was surprised to climb into an old car with no taxi markings, no seatbelts, a giant hole in the trunk, and a limited amount of gas. However, our driver was really nice and even though his English was limited, he made for pleasant company on the 45 minute drive to Tikal. The ruins were incredible. Standing next to them, I felt like I was shrinking into the grass. We climbed a few of them but most had signs posted that discouraged doing so. We could walk around many of the structures though and the patterns in the stone showed hundreds of years of wear. We spent the entire day scrambling around these massive ruins and hiking around the national park. 

That night, we headed back toward Guatemala City and arrived in Antigua the next morning. Antigua was beautiful, colorful buildings dotting the mountainous landscape. There was also a square near our hostel with a large fountain where I purchased a handmade scarf from a local woman. She and the other women in her village dyed the fibers themselves and wove them into scarves by hand. She also had some gorgeous needlepoint but it was heavy and would have been difficult for me to transport. When we arrived in Antigua, we found a shuttle to Pacaya, a large active volcano. We hiked to the top and I could see smoke smoldering across the rocks. There was a small stand at the top of the volcano, selling bracelets, necklaces, and other souvenirs. The jewelry was all made from volcanic ash and other pieces of the volcano and the money earned was used to rebuild villages that had been destroyed by the volcano. I bought a small wooden bracelet with the black grains in the shape of a tree, representing the tree of life. As we hiked on, I could feel the heat rising. Another group had marshmallows, which they shared with us. We roasted them on the volcano, using the heat that was emitting from the rocks.

The next morning, half of the group, including me, headed back into Guatemala City for our flight. I had purchased my ticket early and gotten a cheaper flight leaving on that date but it was unavailable when everyone else bought tickets. The three guys who were with me all had work the next morning, so they spent the extra $50 to go back on Sunday instead of Monday. However, when we arrived at the airport, we had some difficulty procuring our tickets. We learned from a Spirit employee that our flight had been cancelled and that they were trying to find other flights for us. We ended up sitting at the airport for five hours. I was unable to contact my family or my roommate until that night, sending a few people into panic. However, Spirit came through somewhat and put us on the flight the next morning back to Fort Lauderdale. They also put us up at a nice hotel in a safe zone of Guatemala City and shuttled us to and from the airport. In addition, they provided dinner for us. When we arrived at the hotel, I emailed my parents and roommate to let them know what happened. Then, we walked around Guatemala City some, staying close to the hotel for safety. We took full advantage of the buffet-style dinner and also made use of the rooftop jacuzzi, which had a gorgeous view overlooking the city and its surrounding mountains. We ended up on the same flight as the rest of our group and met up with them at the airport, much to their surprise.

Events occurred: August 16-20, 2012