Entry into the Guatemalan Highlands

The Guatemalan Highlands (Los Altos) stretch from Antigua to the Mexican border. This was the most anticipated section of our tour of the region. Our focus area for this region on this trip was not one of its many avenues for exploring nature (climbing volcanoes, walking trails etc. are abundant) but to experience the indigenous culture of the Maya people who live in the remote towns and villages. They have managed to protect their traditional values and lifestyle despite the horrendous chapters (first the Spanish in the 1500s and more recently the warfare between the government and anti-government insurgents which caused untold hardships to the native people) of history that saw them become helpless victims.
 
Maya dialects are spoken widely here and over a dozen groups are scattered over the region, each with its own language and clothing. Our earlier exploration (2006) into the highlands of Chiapas (Mexico) had given us a glimpse into the curious blending of native rituals with Catholicism in the churches. And the entire region is a fairyland of mountains and valleys ringed with 9 volcanoes (the highest peak in Central America, Volcan Tajumulco rises to 4220m) forming an irresistible backdrop to its unique culture.

Most towns have their market days on one or two days of the week and they provide an excellent opportunity to enjoy the colorful displays (both on the shops and on the persons of the people) of clothing and other artifacts. You can also observe worshipers at the Mayan churches or take a walk through the colorful cemeteries (you can see them from a distance as they look like miniature apartment blocks with some multi-storeyed structures for large families). On a given day of the week there are two or three towns that have market days and you can take your pick. The biggest and most famous one is at Chichicastenango (Thursdays and Sundays) and we had blocked out a Sunday for that.
 
Once you get past the town of Chimaltenango (unfortunately there is no byepass on the CA-1 around this town which is reputed to cause horrific traffic jams) on your way west from Antigua, you forget about straight and horizontal lines. All those hours you spent in yoga classes pay off handsomely here, especially if you are sitting on the non-existent 3rd (aisle) seat on a chicken bus whose drivers do not seem to have been taught how to respect curves. The buses go at full speed through these impossible and interminable curves as your posterior loses contact with the edge of the seat on one side and deposits on the other and goes back and forth several times every minute. Your hands and thighs have to work overtime to maintain your balance, but the bodies of your neighbours provide the security net in case you are not able to arrest your trajectory. You soon get used to this game and can even enjoy the beautiful scenery outside and playing peek-a-boo with the charming Mayan toddlers who gamely hang on to their parents (and their expressions seem to inquire where you left your parents when you needed them to hang on to) while you perform the subtle muscular maneuvers to stay balanced.
 
The ideal way to explore these towns and villages is to be footloose and hop from town to town as the fancy catches you. On this trip, we compromised and chose to stay put at a single location for 3 days and undertake day trips. There are great benefits to this mode (no heavy packs, no packing/unpacking every day, nice restaurants etc.) but it limits the radius of your circle as you have to keep the timing of the last returning chicken bus from your destination. We chose to stay at Panajachel, on the shores of Lago Atitlan (the cradle of Mayan civilization and the core of their mythology). This town has nothing of historical importance but has all the conveniences that a tourist would want (vegetarian food, nice hotels, tour operators) and has great lake views and transport connections. It is termed Gringotenango because of the tourists who swarm the place.
 
Time for a little generic rant about tour shuttles. While the chicken buses are a great way to experience the local life and learn what clothes in washing machine go through on a regular basis, we were not too keen on using them for our one-way moves since it involved losing sight of our packs or squeezing them into the limited overhead space. We wanted a pre-dawn departure from Antigua to complete the 3 hour ride to Panajachel and also get a full day of exploration in the highlands. Of course, the shuttle is NOT going to show up at 5:30 (even though you are instructed to be ready 15 minutes before!) as it takes it own time picking up others from their hotels. It showed up an hour late and yes, we did have to switch vehicles near the turnoff to the Lake at Los Encuentros. So it was past 10 by the time we reached Pana and deposited our bags at our hotel and grabbed a quick breakfast by the lake. This limited our radius of exploration but we found the perfect place to spend the middle of the day in Solola, whose market day fell on Friday. Solola is a mere 8km from Pana but it is a very steep and windy road uphill from the lake to the high town. On our way into Pana from Antigua, we enjoyed spectacular views of the fabled lake (Aldous Huxley called it one of the most beautiful lakes in the world in 1934) as we rolled down the curvy road.

Video: Lago Atitlan

We learnt that the most efficient way to manage our day trips was to get out of Pana by the first available bus (and not wait for direct buses to our destination which are rare or infrequent). It would usually take 2 buses to get to Los Encuentros on CA-1 (the Pan American Highway that runs through all the Central American countries from Mexico to Panama) but it would not involve any waiting time as we would have a welcoming party of buses at Solola to change to Los Encuentros. Once on CA-1, the buses flow like a river as it is the arterial road that connects Guate with the remote towns of the highlands and Quetzaltenango (aka Xela, pronounced Shay-la, the second largest city in the country). Yet another cross roads a couple of hours west of Los Encuentros is Cuatro Caminos (4 roads) where one can change for destinations further on. We are also quite intrigued by the fact that no paper tickets were issued in exchange for the payment. The money collector will usually perform acrobatic acts to make his way through the packed bus with overflowing standees and sittees (!) and if you are on for the long haul he is bound to check if you already paid and we found that he would be quite happy to take your nod for an answer. So, the honor system does work.
 
Video: Solola Friday Market
 
Sololá (Pop. 43000, Elev 1978m) is perched on a natural balcony above Lake Atitlan and it was a Kaqchiquel town (called Tzoloya) long before the Spanish arrived. It was on the trade route between the hot lands of the Pacific slope and the chilly highlands. Its market is one of the most colorful in the highlands. Its residents wear traditional costumes, the women covered in striped red cloth and the men in their outlandish "space cowboy" shirts, woolen aprons and embroidered trousers.
 
This Friday was a brief day of exploration around Solola’s market and then walking down its clogged main street to the well ornamented Parque Central with a striking looking clock tower adjacent to it with the names of Honduras and Costa Rica painted on top. A pizza place and a traditional tortilla kitchen were our options for lunch after we paid our respects to the Iglesia de Solola across the street. There were no rituals going on this day (unless you count the woman who knelt on her pew with her face down on the bench in front and sobbed through the entire time we were there pouring out her troubles to the Lord) but there was enough Mayan touches like a prone Jesus dressed in Mayan robes, a couple of saints by the baptismal font dressed in Mayan robes and a very elaborate nativity scene requiring one to climb a few steps to get close to the main activity. 
 
Video: Making tortillas 
 
Back in Pana (Pop 15000, Elevation: 1600m) for a walk in the bright afternoon sun through Calle Santander, the main street with its plentiful hotels, restaurants, souvenir shops and tour operators. It is not a bad thing to have tourists swarming a town as this inevitably leads to an eclectic choice of eateries and a couple of them are bound to be vegetarian friendly. We discovered an Indonesian restaurant and got some respite from an overload of tacos and frijoles (beans) with some tasty nasi goreng! 

Several different cultures mingle on Pana's streets. Ladinos (people of mixed indigenous and European heritage) and gringos (formerly used to refer to white tourists but these days it fits all tourists), the Kaqchiquel and Tz'utujil Maya from surrounding villages come to sell their handicrafts. 

We had opted to stay at a hotel by the lake which offered us superb vistas of the lake and volcanoes from our rooms but was a 15 minute walk from the centre. We did take the occasional Bajaj ride to optimize on time.


Photo Album: Pana-Solola