Maximón is one of Guatemala’s most popular Mayan folk saints, worshipped in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. Some believe Maximón, also known as San Simón, to be an incarnation of the Mayan god of sexuality, while others think he was a Spanish priest. An effigy of Maximón in the town of Santiago Atitán is celebrated year round.
Please don’t go to Todos Santos, Guatemala. Life in this authentic village in the mountains is much as it has been for centuries, no hordes of tourists here. A trip to Todos Santos is about absorbing authentic village life. That’s why we ask you, please don’t go to Todos Santos (which you really should) – and if you do go, please do so quietly and keep it to yourself…
We had just gotten to Guatemala and stayed in the city of Flores for a couple of days, which is actually a beautiful island in Lake Peten Itza. One day, as we sat on the dock just soaking up the sun, an Guatemalan ‘anciano’ (or really old man) came over and started to chat with us. He introduced himself as ‘Miguel de San Miguel’, Miguel from San Miguel, a little village on the other side of the lake.
Following our reflections on 200 days of travel, here are the tops and flops of our last 100 days on the road:
Antigua’s Central Park is home to a quite unusual fountain – four mermaids on each side of the fountain are spraying streams of water out of their breasts. The fountain, ‘Fuente de las Sirenas’ in Spanish, was built by Diego de Porres in 1738, who took his inspiration for the fountain from the Neptune Fountain in Bologna, Italy.
Antigua, the former capital of Guatemala, has frequently been hit by earthquakes, but especially the earthquake in 1773 left severe damages, and up to today, dozens of ruins of churches and convents can be seen throughout the city.
An amazing year is coming to an end – our first as full-time travelers! Rather than rattle off a list of everywhere we’ve been, check out our year in pictures, from the pre-trip ‘planning’ phase to our current location of Honduras.
It is amazing how much life you can squeeze into 100 days. It seems like forever ago that we wrote our first 100 days on the road post from Mazunte, on the Pacific coast of Mexico. Between then and where we are now, in San Salvador, we have visited four countries, explored caves with Mayan skeletons, climbed volcanoes, swam with sharks and sting rays in the Caribbean, lived for a month in a beach front apartment in Playa del Carmen, had two fairly major illnesses, almost got robbed, traveled to places almost completely off the beaten path, met loads of people, worked full time, even took on extra work, blogged more, and we are nearly finished with a globetrottergirls.com website redesign.
On 2 November or Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), there are big kite festivals all over Guatemala. We were lucky to take part in a kite festival in Chichicastenango where the kids are kite crazy.
When you travel long term, your budget becomes your Bible. This is why we wanted to share a break down on how much it cost for us to travel through Central America – including all the splurges and island vacations.