How traveling to Mayan Ruins turns into Shrimpfest 2013

The original plan was to motorcycle to the Mayan Ruins in Copan, Honduras and then head down to the El Salvador beach for the Semana Santa Holiday. For those of you not aware, Semana Santa is probably the biggest travel holiday in all of Central America and people flock to all of the area attractions. I had made reservations at a Hotel near the main square in Copan The dog sitter was in place and all we had to do was load the motorcycle and go.

The bike was loaded and ready to go, when on the pre-trip inspection I noticed the following:

This meant a change in plans. We could not simply take our school car out of the country without having written authorization. Something not happening on the Saturday of Holy Week. So we had to stay in Guatemala, which is not such a bad option, as there is a lot to see. We decided to go to Quetzaltenango or Xela (pronounced Shaila), an area we had not previously been to. The first night was spent on Lake Atitlan and we took the Garmin route. That means you get there, but sometimes the roads are a bit rough and you wonder whether or not this is really the correct road. The fault. probably, lies with the free map that I downloaded, but I cannot really be sure. This was indeed the case, but only for 20 or so kms, the rest were scenic vista after scenic vista on roads generally not traveled by anyone. We spent the night at a Japanese owned hotel about a ten minute walk from the main street. It was clean, it had hot water and good internet...we had stayed here before.

The next morning we were off to Xela. The road to Xela has just been redone and would have been an enjoyable motorcycle ride. Big sweepers, nice vistas, many volcanoes... typical Guatemala. But we were in the car and my aggressive driving instead seemed to trigger car sickness on Diane's part. Upon arrival in Xela it took a while to find our hotel. Then we decided that our night was better spent elsewhere. We ended up at an interesting place a couple of blocks from the main town square. For 20 dollars a night, with internet and parking, it was a reasonable deal.

Xela had an old central square from which the town was born. There was a lot going on as it was Palm Sunday.

You can see that palm flower arrangements are big here

But walking around the central area of town was fun, as the streets were not straight and the architecture distinctly colonial.

In our travels Diane discovered a church that she wanted to get some pictures of... So we decided to go look for it. We headed out toward Punil, in the area where Diane thought the church would be. This was a heavily agricultural area where they grow those apple sized radishes I posted about last year. We rode around noticing that every person had a pickup truck and every single one of those pickup trucks were Toyotas. Apparently we found the Toyota equivalent of an elephant graveyard, though these Toyotas were all alive and well.

We saw a lot of pretty countryside, but did not find the church. Back to Xela for dinner at the number one Tripadvisor restaurant. Only to discover it was closed, so we had blue cheese burgers at the bar next door with a big pitcher of darkish beer.

The next day we were going to search for the church and then head towards a beach, they were not in the same direction, but we (meaning Diane) had to find that church. After much conversation in Spanish, and showing pictures of the church we eventually found the town where the church was. The town was dusty grey, every building was made out of cinderblocks and unlike many of the other towns in Guatemala, the buildings here were not brightly painted. Except for one, perhaps you can spot it in the photo below

The church is the only reason to come to this town. So here are some pictures

Having completed Diane's mission we were off to the beach. Now the beach is where all of Guatemala goes for Semana Santa. The city is virtually a ghost town because of this, so we were worried about getting accommodations  We picked the town Sipicate, mostly because the Garmin actually had it on the map. The ride was good, but not too fast, through an area of Guatemala we had never seen before. Eventually we came to the turn and then it was 30 miles down a straight road, through sugar cane fields to Sipicate. Sipicate is the intersection of two other roads, one ends at a ferry dock to cross the estuary to the beach, the other ends at a small beach town. We stayed in the best hotel in town. It had what I wanted, air conditioning and a pool. On the other hand it also had no hot water, no internet, and a restaurant that did not inspire confidence. We settled in and around 330 we decided to explore the area. We left the hotel and turned left, going as far as we could. The road ended in a small beach town that had line of beachfront restaurants.

They all looked about the same, but for whatever reason we went to:

Now Diane has been on this shrimp thing for a long time. She always wants to find that beachfront restaurant that gives you a huge pile of camarones (shrimp) for a reasonable price. This is a continuing saga from the times we were on the beach in Colombia and were able to do it. So she has been disappointed for about ten years now. But hey, you never know. So we sat down at this random restaurant and ordered camerones for 80 quetzales, about ten dollars. The prices ranged from 70 to 150 and the price change was based on size (supposedly). Dona Lucy (the owner) did not have any at 150, though it would have been doubtful that we would have ordered it. The dish we ordered was also kind of random. As you can see below, it looks like things turned out okay.

We left comfortably full, with Diane talking about riding down once a month just to eat shrimp.. The beach is about 2 hours away, so it is a totally doable day trip.

The next day we discovered the hotel's restaurant. The huevos rancheros weren't horrible, but I take to task any restaurant in Guatemala that serves instant coffee and this one did. We took the road the other way where we discovered the other boat dock. But we decided to go back to the hotel. We whiled away the day under a big shade tree by the pool, reading, swimming... At around 500 or so, we went back to the beachfront restaurants. We opted for the same place and were now welcomed as long lost return customers.. We sat on the beach and had some of the local beer, Gallo. We wanted to enjoy the sunset and have dinner a bit later. Apparently being returning customers we were entitled to some perks.

More shrimp. This time skewered and fried.After a couple of beers we thought it was wise to order. I ordered the same dish as the day before and Diane ordered something fried. We also split a small bowl of caldo, sort of a fish stew. The stew came with 4, what you would call, jumbo shrimp. That was 4 each, because they served our split bowl of soup in two bowls. Then came the shrimp.

During dinner we were entertained by the beach action...the usual football game.

As the sun was setting, they began to pick up the chairs. Apparently the restaurants all close at sundown. Good thing we did not come for a late dinner.

The next day we decided to leave early and head back to the city. But first we stopped at one of the many vendors and bought two pounds of shrimp.

As you can see the meaning of Jumbo Shrimp has shifted. These weighed in at 7 to a pound. But what do with them?

We discussed this during the ride back home. Along the way, we saw one of the many Guatemalan volcanoes letting off a bit of steam.

Upon arriving at home, I looked over the various recipes and decided on a Cajun Shrimp recipe. Diane cleaned the shrimp, a chore made much easier simply by the enormity of the shrimp.

We accompanied the shrimp with linguine and a simple sauce of butter and garlic, and some stir fried spinach. Diane again had her fill of shrimp and the meal was quite satisfactory.

Traffic in Guatemala City tends to be horrible. On Sunday, it is fairly empty, so it easy to cross the town. But as I stated before, everyone leaves the city for Semana Santa. This makes it a great time for traveling in and around the city. Since we were back, Diane wanted to view some of the processions that happen in Antigua. So we left at 9 on Good Friday and headed up to Antigua. We managed to find a free place to park in a lot that we often use. However the crowd in Antigua for Semana Santa is crazy. Below are some pictures to give you an idea. Those decorations on the ground are made of colored sand and are called alfombras (rugs/carpets), they take hours and hours to make and end up destroyed shortly afterwards.

The remainder of the holiday was spent quietly enjoying the empty city. We hope you had a great holiday too