We all wanted to go to the beach, but agreed that we wanted to stay in a hotel nicer than the one we stayed in at Tilapita (the trip we made at the very beginning of the program, where a worm and a few other bugs greeted us as we walked into our room). So, we looked online and found a great Eco Tourism option, right on the water with bungalows made for 6 people and private bathrooms. There was even an online reservation option! So, we did that (but didn’t pay in advance, just in case). Novice traveler rule #1: NEVER trust what a website says.
We began our travel adventure at 7:30 AM Saturday morning. We walked to La Rotunda, where we picked up a microbus to Las Rosas, a bus terminal. There we waited for a bit and got on a bus towards Mezate. We were expecting this bus ride to be about 2 hours long, and it surprisingly was. The only annoying part was that we got on the bus late, so we had the seats in the aisle where you are sitting on one butt cheek, grasping your backpack with one hand, and hanging on for dear life with the other. You also get to deal with people passing up and down the aisle constantly, which means you get a lot of interesting items shoved into your face (smelly food, beer bellies, hair, bags of who knows what, etc.)
When we got to Mezate, we quickly found the bus that would take us to Tulate. However, we had to wait on the bus for about 30 minutes until it was time to leave. It was good that we had a great number of seats to pick from, but bad that we had to sit in the hot bus forever. Finally, after the bus filled up, we headed out.
We drove for about 10 minutes until the bus stopped at some market. The bus driver just got off the bus, and we were there for about another 20 minutes. After this wait, we were finally on our way to the beach (at this point, it was around 11:30 and we were done with traveling, so it took a little bit of discussion to remind us why we were putting ourselves through this).
The rest of the bus ride was a little scary. The road between Mezate and Tulate is very straight and long, and has a lot of potholes. So, between every stop that we made, the bus would accelerate to full speed and drive as if there were no lines on the road. The worst part is that every other driver on the two lane highway was doing the same thing. The result… a real life videogame: “How many cars can you pass without hitting a pothole, spinning out of control and bursting into flames?”
After about an hour of this thrilling ride, we saw a sign for the hotel so we screamed to the bus driver “bajamos,” which essentially means “getting off here.” We were deposited on the deserted road with a rather flimsy looking sign pointing in one direction “ECO HOTEL à.” So, we walked in that direction. We knew we were on the coast because it was extremely hot and humid, but we couldn’t actually see the ocean. In fact, we really had no idea where we were. We continued to follow the road for about ¾ of a mile, happening upon nothing but dogs and chickens. Finally, we came upon a house that was actually inhabited. We asked them about the hotel, and they said that we just needed to continue for a bit longer and it would be there. We did just that.
Finally, we happened upon the hotel! Well, it was another sign, almost impossible to read because it was so torn apart. And it said to ring the “timbre” or “doorbell.” Except there wasn’t one. We could see nobody inside, and the gate was locked with barbed wire on top. We called out and nobody responded. So, we wandered around the side and finally found the ocean! In order to get into the hotel, we decided to walk on the rocks along the seawall (the tide was way out). After balancing on rocks and jumping over large puddles, we made it to the back of the hotel and walked in. There was a little girl, probably about 5 years old, sitting on the sand playing. When she saw us, she ran into some room and a few minutes later, a woman came out, looking really annoyed that we were there.
We asked if there were rooms and if we could stay there, and she asked if we had spoken with the owner of the hotel. I said no, but I made an online reservation. She looked at me like I was talking in a foreign language… and I KNOW I was talking in Spanish.
Apparently, all of the rain had damaged their rooms, and they only had two available. They weren’t occupied, so we asked to see them. The first one fit 3 people, and would have been fine, but she couldn’t find the key for the second one. So this hotel was no longer an option.
At this point it was 1:30 and we were hot, disgustingly sweaty, tired from traveling, and hungry. So we asked if she had any food. The answer was a simple “no,” with a face that added “why would I have food for you?”
We asked her if there were any other hotels in the area, and she told us of one, but that it was far away. We asked how far, and she pointed in a direction. That was all we got. So, we headed back along the seawall in the other direction. As we were walking a woman stopped us and asked us what we were doing. I’m sure 6 gringos wearing pants and backpacks, walking along the seawall totally lost, was a really interesting sight.
The woman told us that this other hotel was no longer open either. We asked if there were any other options. She said, yes, but that we had to take a lancha (like a little boat) to get there. She offered to drive us to the dock free of charge. Having no choice, we hopped in the back of her pickup and she drove us to the dock. The lady was actually really helpful, telling us about the island and what we should do. We gave her 30Q for driving us there.
We took a lancha over to the island and got off, thinking to ourselves, finally, we are here! But, sadly most of the hotels we saw were also closed. In fact, the beach was very quiet. There were houses and abandoned hotels and two restaurants. At this point, being 2PM, we needed to take a rest and eat lunch and figure out what to do. We walked up to the beach (where we could finally see waves!). Both of the restaurant owners were pulling us in either direction. They both had the same food options (as every coastal place in Gautemala does) so we chose the one to the right. Bad decision.
We started with ordering drinks, and all asked for agua mineral (seltzer). They said they didn’t have that, so we asked for agua pura. They didn’t have that either. Turns out, the only thing they did have was orange soda. They told us they couldn’t find any agua pura on the island. We ordered our food and were sitting there when we saw people in the other restaurant drinking agua mineral. So, we went over to the other restaurant just to get drinks. There was plenty of agua and agua pura and cocacola over there. And their food looked delicious… a lot better than the 10 shrimp I got.
In reality, we were all glad to just be sitting and enjoying the sound of the beach and the breeze. But after a while, we figured we should probably find a hotel before we got stranded on the island. We walked around asking, and learned that there were two options, one close to where we were with rooms and public bathrooms, and another further down the beach with private bathrooms and a restaurant. That one sounded appealing, so we went there.
After walking about ½ mile along the beach, we finally found this other hotel. We entered and liked what we saw. Until we heard the price: 850Q for the 6 of us, which comes out to about $110.00 USD. Thinking about it now, when you divide that by 6, it comes to about 20 dollars per person, which in reality is cheap. But, for what it was, I didn’t want to pay that much. Plus, a few girls in our group were insistent upon not paying that much. At this point, we were running out of time. It was 3:30 and the last bus to Mezate left at 4:30.
We needed to find a hotel before we got stranded. We didn’t know if there would be a bus back to Xela once we got to Mezate, and we certainly didn’t want to be stranded there. So, we went to our last hotel option. We had no choice but to pick it.
Talk about the nastiest hotel that I have ever seen/stayed at in my life. You really can’t even call it a hotel. Think old crack house in the States that hasn’t been touched for 20 years. That’s how disgusting it was. But, we only paid 25 Q per person. The rooms and beds were bad. You just look at it and can see the bugs that must be crawling in it. But, the bathroom was worse. No running water, and I don’t think the toilet had been cleaned ever. I thought to myself, I will spend no time here.
Even though we were all disgusted, we took it in stride… just another Guatemalan adventure! After changing into our suits, we finally made it to the beach and into the water. It was so refreshing and we were very happy at that point. We played in the waves and relaxed on the beach reading magazines and gossiping…. doing exactly what we came to the beach to do.
We watched the sun set, and then headed back to the hotel to change and find some dinner. Except everything had shut down. The entire little community was dead. We headed back to the expensive hotel because we knew they had a restaurant there. But, they wanted 25Q just to enter the hotel. Then, they wanted 60Q for a typical Guatemalan meal (eggs, beans, torillas) without fish. Adding fish was going to cost another 40Q. We definitely said no to that. We had a few snacks that we had brought and decided we would rather eat those for dinner.
Back at our hotel, we ran into the owner. We explained our situation and she said she would be happy to make us dinner, and that it would be ready at 8. Sarah, Rachel and I ordered caldos (essentially a soup with a whole fish, whole crab, and whole shrimp in it), Korrin ordered fish, and Harim and Marissa ordered shrimp.
We had about an hour and a half to kill, so we went looking for some beers. After searching the entire island, we finally found a tienda with Gallo (the national beer). We sat and talked some more, and then went to dinner. My caldo tasted good going down, although I would pay for it later. But in the moment, we had some good “girl time.”
We went up to our room around 10, because it was dark and the owner turned off all the lights at the hotel. We sat on our disgusting beds, reading funny things from Cosmo and laughing at our situation (I’ve learned that laughter is a great way to deal with a situation you’d rather not be in).
Lets just say that night was not all that great. As I said before, I regretted the caldo, which seemed to affect me almost immediately. During that night, I was chased down the beach in the dark by a barking dog, was forced to use the disgusting bathroom I swore I would never enter numerous times (thank god for hand sanitizer) and was awake until about 4:45 sitting on the balcony with stomach cramps. At 5am I managed to sleep for about an hour, until we were all woken at 6 by a LOUD rooster.
Rachel and I went running on the beach, which I though would be rough considering my night, but actually felt really good. After, we went swimming, which again was really refreshing.
We were on the lancha leaving the island by 8:30AM. None of us really wanted to hang out there. At 8:45 we were on a bus on the way back to Mezate. We expected the ride to take about an hour, then we could switch to a bus to Xela, and we would be back by noon. All we really wanted was to be clean.
Instead, the bus ride between Tulate and Mezate lasted 2.5 hours. It was long, hot, crowded, long and slow. At first, we moved at snail pace picking up everyone from the side of the road, honking the horn REALLY loudly and constantly. Then, there was a problem with the engine. The bus driver and ayudante stopped the bus and tried to figure out the problem, but had no luck. So, we spent over an hour unable to go above 2nd gear. It was painful.
Luckily, when we got to Mezate, there was a bus to Xela ready to go. We hopped on the bus and were shoved in the back. Luckily, this bus ride went fairly quickly. By 1:30 PM, we were back in Xela. I went straight home and showered. Every item that went on that trip was washed before it re-entered my room.
So, not exactly the relaxing trip we had planned, but another Guatemalan story I’ll always remember!
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