From Tikal, to the highlands, to a beautiful waterfall and picturesque lake, to Antigua
Since I am on a mission to see most Star Wars filming sites in the world (see Tunisia) I thought that one good place to start would be Tikal which can be seen as the rebel base at the end of a New Hope. Tikal was another Mayan site I wanted to visit and dates back to before 1000 CE. What makes this site so famous is that it has very well preserved ruins which most are hidden under the thick jungle canopy, as well as great paths in which you can spend your day getting lost…
The animals around Tikal were absolutely brilliant to photograph. From the bizarre looking Coati’s to birds, to Spider and Howler Monkeys, and Agouti’s which look like small Capybara’s. There were some cheeky spider monkeys that decided to go up into avocado trees and take a bite out of one then throw it at people passing by as the ground was littered with them.
While I simply loved Tikal, I believe the highlight of being in Guatemala was spending a day on the bumpy but picturesque road of the highlands. Beautiful scenery as well as small rural villages dotted this landscape and the fog in the morning made it more eerie…
Going through the highlands had its twists and turns because of the road but ultimately we arrived at a town and on the other side of the town was some beautiful waterfalls with pools you can swim in, with water that was turquoise and clear….of course the road there was great as they were doing elections as you can see locals crammed into public transport to get them to the polling stations.
After a nice bath in the waterfalls, we made our way through some more highlands through some beautiful towns which with the small streets could not handle the size of the truck….
After going through the beautiful highlands, we made it to Lake Atitlan which is cradled by some beautiful volcanic mountains which makes this place very picturesque…it is also one of the if not the deepest lakes in Central America.
After leaving Lake Atitlan we went through some more scenery that was amazing to look at as well as some small towns with people wearing traditional clothes…..
Finally we get to the cobblestone street and very picturesque town of Antigua, in which we stayed in the historic center. This is one of the top five picturesque towns in Central America and certainly did not disappoint…
Of course no trip would be complete without a cooking class Guatemalan style as I went to La Tortilla Cooking School, and cooked six different dishes and had a lot of wine. The dishes I cooked where I learned how to cook desserts, salads, mains, and sides. I believe all of them came out pretty good with learning how to cook the traditional way with traditional ingredients…
As we left Guatemala, I can say that I saw just about everything I wanted to see with the highlands really impressing me as it is a place I can defiantly go back too….Next Stop, the friendly country of El Salvador!!!!!