Yesterday was easily the longest day of the trip so far, but also one of the most rewarding. We woke up at 6am to get ready to meet a guide we had hired for the day at 7am. For 250 Quetzales ($31.25 U.S.) our guide was going to take us in a private shuttle to the nearby town of Santa Clara where we would hike up Indian’s Nose (one of the most popular overlooks of Lake Atitlan), visit our first Guatemalan market, and go ziplining through the mountains surrounding Lake Atitlan.
We decided to do the hiking first, as it was early and we thought it would be cooler at that time of day. The hike proved to be quite a challenging one for us Florida boys who rarely even deal with hills, but we finally made it to the top for what proved to be the best view of Lake Atitlan we had had yet. Before I show you some pictures, I leave you with one word of advice. If you decide to make this hike during the rainy season in Guatemala be sure to wear old crappy clothing because, even if it isn’t raining, there is a good chance you are going to bust your ass in the mud like me! Anyways, here are some pictures from the hike.
After hiking to Indian’s Nose Point we were treated with this view of Lake Atitlan
A view of Indian’s Nose Point from the lake. The tallest point is the nose and is where we hiked
Hiking through the countryside of Guatemala. It seems no mountainside is considered too steep for farming here
The white flower you see towards the middle of this picture is used to signify the end of one farmers property and the beginning of anothers
A view of San Pedro from Indian’s Nose Point
A shot from the wooden hut built on top of Indian’s Point
A shot of Santa Clara which lies on the other side of Indian’s Nose Point from the lake and San Pedro
A view of San Pedro taken through a spider’s web
A view of another town I can’t recall the name of
The trail we had to climb to get to Indian’s Nose Point. Don’t let this deceive you, it was an extremely slippery climb
My brother and I with Lake Atitlan in the background
A view of another peak a bit lower down from Indian’s Nose Point
After the hike we took our sweaty, tired, and dirty selves (I wasn’t the only one who fell) down to the Santa Clara market. We were able to grab some delicious fruit and other foods as well as see the locals in their element as there were very few tourists in the market.
Finally we headed back up another mountain (this time in our shuttle thankfully) to try out ziplining! For most of us it was our first time, and getting to do it with views of Guatemala below, and even through clouds at some points was quite an experience. I was able to video tape some of the action, so I hope you enjoy!
*The laughter at the beginning was because I am an idiot and nailed my ass on the board I was supposed to jump off of*
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypx6h4lqBT0[/youtube]
By the time we made it back down the mountain after ziplining it was only 12:30pm…. We still had a long day of traveling ahead of us as we planned to leave San Pedro and Lake Atitlan and travel towards the Tikal ruins of Guatemala. We left San Pedro at about 3pm, caught a 4 hour shuttle to Guatemala City, and then took a 10 hour overnight bus ride to Flores, Guatemala where we are now. We’ll be heading to Tikal tomorrow to visit the ruins and I might try to do a post later today with a quick tour of the tiny island town of Flores.
Ziplining in the Guatemalan Mountains
[…] opportunity to take a half day tour that included a try at ziplining. You can see the original post here of the entire adventure but below is a video of my first time ziplining. Enjoy! *The laughter at […]
Steve
I did ziplining in Belize. It was a lot of fun. Tikal was an amazing site to see though so I think you’ll really enjoy it. I flew into the airport near Tikal from Belize City on a four seater airplane through massive turbulence. It was one of the scariest experiences I’ve ever had. It was worth it though to see those ruins.
Matt
Hey Steve, I am very excited about Tikal, we are going tomorrow morning actually at 4:30am or 5am so that we can hopefully get there in time for some wildlife to be out and about. Your plane ride sounds pretty crappy but after a 10 hour bus ride where about 9 hours of it were without air condition I would almost prefer it, haha. Thanks for reading.
Sharon Kramer
This looks awesome. I want to do it!! What a great experience you are having.
crazy sexy fun traveler
Gorgeous place!