Roundtrip in Guatemala anyone?

[Thor Henning]

We are searching for the posibility to take a roundtrip in Guatemale about medio July 2007. It would have been great to take the tour to and from Cancun or Playa. I two weeks tour also visiting some of the Maya spots would be fine.

I have got a tip about gapadventures.com. Does anyone know about this?

[TAPPY]

Hubby spent a lot of time in Guatemala on a work project two years ago. He really enjoyed working there and made some good friends who still call him. He did not get to see Tikal and he was dissapointed about that. He did say there was a lot of poverty. I know he would love to go back. But the Guatemalan Government never did pay his company for the invoice and their equipment never made it back to the states..... so I do not think it is going to happen.

He did bring me back some really nice Ambar jewelry.

[Anna]

I'm quite familiar with GAP, which stands for Great Adventure People (silly, eh). They do overland trips in Central and South America. I know several people who have worked for them. Basically, they take you backpacking in a group. Their fee includes guide, hotels and local buses, I think - better check on that. Food, excursions, airfare is not included. Whatever they do, you can totally do yourself, but you may have to budget more time to do it.

Pros about going with GAP: you don't have to check bus schedues, buy tickets, look for hotels etc - things that can take quite a lot of your travel time here in Latin America, you travel with a group a people which can give you security and companion, you have a guide who speaks Spanish, knows the area and can help you with questions, point you to recommended tour outfitters, you have your itinerary set and know where you're going next

Cons with GAP: you don't get to make your own itinerary; if you'd like to stay an extra day somewhere you can't, you don't get to choose your own hotels, you have to travel with a group of people that you may or may not get along with (there's usually at least one person in a group like that who bitches and complains), having a guide may cause you to interact less with the society you're traveling through causing you to lose out on a cool experience.

You can totally do this trip on your own, it's not hard at all. The one big advantage with GAP, as I see it, is the time issue. Traveling in Latin America can be time consuming when it comes to finding buses, tour operators etc, but for me, that's part of the experience. Look at your travel time not as a way to get to where you're going, but as a part of the whole experience. Get Lonely Planet's La Ruta Maya and you're set, in my opinion. Also, if you stick to backpackers' hotels and posadas you'll bump into people all the time doing the same route as you do, that you can hook up with if you want to, or people going in the opposite direction who can give you tips on where to go/do next. A lot of people travel where you want to travel, so it's not an un-chartered territority.

Flying into Cancun is not a bad idea. I would take AT LEAST two weeks, perferable 3-4 weeks. Places I would include if possible: Palenque, Bonampak, Yaxchilan, cross the river into El Peten, Tikal - or down to Belize first, San Ignacio, then Tikal. On to Antigua (skip Guatemala City), Lago Atitlan, Panajachel, Chichicastenango market, vulcanos (check if safe). In to Chiapas, San Cristobal, San Juan Chamula, Sumidero canyon, Agua Azul, Palenque.

Have fun!

[Thor Henning]

Thank you, Anna and Tappy!

We could only have three weeks vacation, and we would love to have a few days in Playa at the end. A tour with a van would be the easiest, but is it available?
Wouldn't it be a good idea for Play.Info to start tours lasting for more than one day with hotel and food included? May be to Merida? But of course I now wish for a tour to Guatemala.


We could manage to travel by our selves, but under three weeks doesn't give much time for getting lost.

[Anna]

There are some overland trips that use their own vehicles too (GAP uses local transportations). Do a Google search and see what you can find. I see one big truck outside Mom's Hotel sometimes, but can't remember the name of the company.

With the time you have, you will have no problem doing a great round-trip by yourself if you want to. You don't have to do all of La Ruta Maya. You can go from Playa to San Ignacio in one day, spend a day there, then on to Flores, stay the night there, visit Tikal early in the morning, maybe one more day in that area, night bus to Guatemala City, on to Antigua the next day, spend two nights there, Chichicastenango-Atitlan another two days or so, on to San Cristobal with surroundings for a couple of days (Sumidero etc). Here I suggest you check out a Na Bolom tour. I think their pretty pricy, but it's probably something you'd like. They do some 3 and 4 day tours in to the Lacadonian jungle, you get to stay with the very traditional Lacadonian Mayas, see Bonampak, Yaxchilan and more, sound very cool! See if they can drop you off in Palenque or Agua Azul to safe travel time. Then back to Playa. If you have time in there, check out Lago Montebello. Haven't counted the days, but it seems like you can do that in two weeks and then have 3-4 days as buffert days in case you find something on the way you'd like to do.

[JimmyMN]

I'm also somewhat interested in the possibilities that Guatemala offers, especially along the border towns. I'll be running through San Cristobal, Palenque and other parts of Chiapas and have given thought to venturing across the border. If the city of Oaxaca is still in a state of unrest two months from now, Guatemala will become even more tempting to me.

Jimmy

[Thor Henning]

Thank you Anna! A great proposition! There is a long time since last time I traveled as a backpacker, and Kari have never done that. But this sounds interesting. We will see what we will do. Thank you again.

Thor Henning

[Rissask]

Sorry Thor- all I know about travelling in Guatemala is from a couple we met our last trip in Playa who had just been touring around there for a month. They liked it but said it was very poor and accomodations were rustic for the most part.

Have you thought about Peru? One of my co-workers just got back from two weeks there and he and his wife loved it. They do a lot of travelling and the wife had been there before on her own.
They went on the Inca Trail to Macchu Pichu, flew over the Nazca lines, went to Arequiba and saw some huge canyon, and spent some time at the coast in Lima. They said the food was great, it was safe and the people were wonderful, and it was dirt cheap- the most they paid was $25 for a hotel.
I think Don and I will have to go sometime in the next few years.

[Thor Henning]

Originally Posted by Rissask

Have you thought about Peru?

I traveled alone as a low budget back packer in Peru for half a year in 1980-81. The country was very poor. You had to use your own sleeping bag many of the places I lived. I went to Lima, Arequipa, Puno, Amantani, Cusco, Quillabamba, Agua Calientes, Machu Picchu, Pachacamac, La Oroya, Tarma, La Merced, Pampa Silva, Santa-Ana, Satipo, Huancayo, Warivilca, Huaras and more. It was a fantastic trip, but hard sometimes. I would like to go to Peru again to show some of the places to Kari. But then I would like to live at a higher standard.

[vieve]

We got a really inexpensive flight from Cancun (on an Aeromexico subsidiary, I think) to the airport outside of Tikal, Guatemala-Flores, maybe? about 4 years ago through a travel wholesale company that was on travelzoo...
Anna's itinerary suggestion sounds great. I did a seperate trip to Chiapas and loved it- Palenque was so beautiful. Met some Lacandon indians while there-I think they are affliated w/ Na Bolom, so you might meet them? They are only Maya indigenos who were never converted to Christianity and have the long hair and wear white robes.
Not so sure about Peru right now...one of my good friends here is from Lima and when he went home last Christmas, he got held up at gunpoint and then this summer his nephew was on a bus that got hijacked...?

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by Thor Henning

I traveled alone as a low budget back packer in Peru for half a year in 1980-81. The country was very poor. You had to use your own sleeping bag many of the places I lived. I went to Lima, Arequipa, Puno, Amantani, Cusco, Quillabamba, Agua Calientes, Machu Picchu, Pachacamac, La Oroya, Tarma, La Merced, Pampa Silva, Santa-Ana, Satipo, Huancayo, Warivilca, Huaras and more. It was a fantastic trip, but hard sometimes. I would like to go to Peru again to show some of the places to Kari. But then I would like to live at a higher standard.

Really! I think that they are maybe more set up for tourists now?
Because the guy who went is NOT into roughing it at all. They weren't backpacking, except for on the Inca trail.

[Thor Henning]

Originally Posted by Rissask

Really! I think that they are maybe more set up for tourists now?
Because the guy who went is NOT into roughing it at all. They weren't backpacking, except for on the Inca trail.

My trip was long ago. Things may have changed quite a deal. I have heard there are at leased one high class hotel by the shore of the Titicaca lake, so there may be a lot more touristy than it was when I were there. And I went to some "not touristy at all" places. And that were very exciting then.

[Thor Henning]

Originally Posted by Anna

There are some overland trips that use their own vehicles too (GAP uses local transportations). Do a Google search and see what you can find. I see one big truck outside Mom's Hotel sometimes, but can't remember the name of the company.

With the time you have, you will have no problem doing a great round-trip by yourself if you want to. You don't have to do all of La Ruta Maya. You can go from Playa to San Ignacio in one day, spend a day there, then on to Flores, stay the night there, visit Tikal early in the morning, maybe one more day in that area, night bus to Guatemala City, on to Antigua the next day, spend two nights there, Chichicastenango-Atitlan another two days or so, on to San Cristobal with surroundings for a couple of days (Sumidero etc). Here I suggest you check out a Na Bolom tour. I think their pretty pricy, but it's probably something you'd like. They do some 3 and 4 day tours in to the Lacadonian jungle, you get to stay with the very traditional Lacadonian Mayas, see Bonampak, Yaxchilan and more, sound very cool! See if they can drop you off in Palenque or Agua Azul to safe travel time. Then back to Playa. If you have time in there, check out Lago Montebello. Haven't counted the days, but it seems like you can do that in two weeks and then have 3-4 days as buffert days in case you find something on the way you'd like to do.

The more I think of it, the more I would like to take this round trip. But how is the hotel standards in the small places? Do we need to bring sleeping bags? I did this when I was traveling in Peru in 1981 and in some places it was really needed. Any other advises?

[Anna]

There are many nice middle-class hotels on this route. When I traveled the area I was on a real back packers budget and chose hotels that were 5-7 dollars per night, but if you go to say 20 bucks a night you'll have some nice options. Basic, but nice. Do get the Lonely Planet book called 'La Ruta Maya', which covers exactly this area and has good hotel recommendations in different price ranges. Not always totally up to date though, but a good help nontheless. A sleeping bag will not be necessary in July, nor any very warm clothes like fleece. Since you'll be on altitude a few times during this trip (San Cristobal, for example) you will want to bring some long pants and a shirt or a thin sweater, but nothing really heavy (if you go say between September and April, you would need warm clothes).

[Thor Henning]

Thank you again, Anna! You are great help.