After a short but scary bus ride, we made it successfully to Coban - a small city in the mountains. The temperature was noticeably cooler (yay) and it felt good to be in a place with more than one road again. We were also grateful for some better food. Coban isn't known as a tourist destination, but we enjoyed it more than we planned to. The city would be beautiful if it wasn't for the heavy cloud of pollution that sits on top of it - it actually made it a bit hard to breathe at times.
We spent a couple lazy days exploring the gritty charm of the city (slowly, due to uneasy tummies), and some great cafes - Xkape Koban and Fantasia (I thoroughly enjoyed fresh homemade yogurt with fruit and granola after nothing but eggs, beans, and tortillas). We had our first real (non-instant) Guatemalan coffee and walked by a coffee finca, or farm. We visited El Calvario, a big white church on a hill overlooking the city, which is also filled with Mayan symbols and altars. The mix of Christian and Pagan symbols is common around here. We took a walk through the Parque Nacional Las Victorias, a beautiful park filled with pine trees. We again considered visiting Semuc Champey (our original destination before stopping in Chisec) but then I was feeling off the weather, so we decided to take it easy and try to get to Antigua instead. Semuc Champey will have to wait until next time. For our last meal, we ate at a very fancy (but still pretty cheap) italian restaurant, where all the food was imported, and they insisted that we wear bibs while we ate. It felt very regal.
We spent a couple lazy days exploring the gritty charm of the city (slowly, due to uneasy tummies), and some great cafes - Xkape Koban and Fantasia (I thoroughly enjoyed fresh homemade yogurt with fruit and granola after nothing but eggs, beans, and tortillas). We had our first real (non-instant) Guatemalan coffee and walked by a coffee finca, or farm. We visited El Calvario, a big white church on a hill overlooking the city, which is also filled with Mayan symbols and altars. The mix of Christian and Pagan symbols is common around here. We took a walk through the Parque Nacional Las Victorias, a beautiful park filled with pine trees. We again considered visiting Semuc Champey (our original destination before stopping in Chisec) but then I was feeling off the weather, so we decided to take it easy and try to get to Antigua instead. Semuc Champey will have to wait until next time. For our last meal, we ate at a very fancy (but still pretty cheap) italian restaurant, where all the food was imported, and they insisted that we wear bibs while we ate. It felt very regal.
This post needs more stories about volcanoes or the funny details of balen's stomach uneasiness.
ReplyDelete