1
Dec

Tikal Basecamp #1 – El Remate, Guatemala

Posted on December 1st, 2011 :: Posted in 2012 calendar, Archaeology Site, Boutique Hotel, Central America, Guatemala, Horseback Riding, Lake, Mayan, Ruins

If you want to visit Tikal National Park and archaeological site (and you do) there are two basecamp options for travelers: Flores or El Remate. We spent time in both towns. We’ll tell you all about Flores in our next post. For now, we’re focusing on El Remate on Lake Peten Itza which we believe is emerging as the better of the two options.

Sunset over Lake Peten Itza as seen from El Remate, Guatemala.

El Remate is a chill, lakeside village near the Biotopo Cerro Cauhi which has a growing list of budget and mid-range accommodations and a few solid economical eating options. El Remate is also closer to Tikal than Flores is, making your trip to the dramatic remains of this Mayan city shorter and cheaper. It has the look and feel of what Panajachel on Lake Atitlan might have been like 30 years ago.

Sleeping in El Remate

El Remate has a small selection of the usual passably clean hostels and dumpy guest houses. But if you have few more quetzales to rub together El Remate also offers some real values for money, all on the north side of the lake.

Looking down at Lake Peten Itza while horseback riding in the hills above El Remate, Guatemala.

Mon Ami had nice-looking stand alone bungalows in a quiet back garden for around US$20, but we didn’t stay there because we were being hosted at Posada del Cerro (300Q doubles, or about US$36, including breakfast featuring homemade bread) which turned out to be as interesting and worthy as we hoped it would.

Owned by a German biologist and community organizer named George and his Brazilian wife Raimunda, Posada del Cerro opened in 2008 right next to the entrance to Biotopo Cerro Cauhi. The Posada has seven rooms and bungalows, two charming apartments with kitchenettes and one guesthouse with seven beds. Each one of them contains no less than five different types of local woods, some of them costing more than $25 per foot on the open market. These gorgeous woods (yellow, toffee, dark chocolate) were used in building construction and in the clean, crisp furniture–much of it designed and created by George.

Our room at the charmingly hand-crafted Posada del Cerro boutique guesthouse in El Remate, Guatemala.

Rooms are minimal, homey and stylish–like an IKEA catalog (utilitarian design, primary colors) in the jungle and the place reminded us a bit of a budget version of Verana boutique hotel in Mexico. Excellent home cooked meals are available (often eaten with George and his family) and there’s WiFi throughout and good views of the lake from some rooms. Check the mattresses before settling on a room, however. They’re all new and clean but some are very, very hard.

A romantic open-air loft room at Posada del Cerro boutique guesthouse in El Remate, Guatemala.

Right across the road there’s even a lovely dock jutting into the blue/green water of the surprisingly long and clear Lake Peten Itza, perfect for a cooling swim.

Karen starting the day off right at Palomino Ranch Hotel with two of her favorite things: coffee and a horse.

A slightly splurgier accommodation option in El Remate is Palomino Ranch Hotel (400Q doubles, or about US$50). The place has a dude-ranch-meets-hacienda vibe and a swimming pool with a horsehead tiled into the bottom. There’s also a stable full of real horses–appaloosas, quarter horses, palominos and even a cremello stallion–a horse that’s pure white with blue eyes and whose genes guarantee to produce a palomino (beige coat with white mane and tail) foal when bred with a chestnut mare. It’s genetic magic.

Palomino Ranch owner Arturo Iriarte has been passionate about horses since he worked on his dad’s ranch as a child. Looking at him at the ranch you’d never guess he owns an advertising business in Guatemala City. Arturo’s well-trained horses (overseen by maestro de caballos Jose) were a pleasure to ride.

Maestro de caballos Jose with the distinctive cremello stallion at Palomino Ranch Hotel in El Remate, Guatemala.

Us riding around Lake Peten Itza with gorgeous horses from Palomino Ranch Hotel in El Remate, Guatemala.

Arturo also owns a chunk of land near his hotel that’s dotted with unearthed Mayan ruins and abuts the neighboring Biotopo Cerro Cauhi which means he has fantastic, essentially private trails as well. Riding through these steep, jungly hills (150 Q or US$20 for three hours) we got great views out over Lake Peten Itza and ample opportunities to dismount and wander through areas full of the remains of small Mayan settlements, mostly untouched by archaeologists and unvisited by tourists.

Owner Arturo Iriarte showing off the jumping skills of one of his horses at Palomino Ranch Hotel in El Remate, Guatemala.

Palomino Ranch Hotel owner Arturo Iriarte in the saddle.

The next day we took the horses along the shores of nearby Lake Salpetén then looped back to the Ixlu archaeological site. The remains of this Mayan civilization have been excavated (and are probably being meticulously raked and swept by the devoted care taker even as we speak). Riding around and amongst the hulking structures added a fresh layer of adventure to the site. There’s just something cool about signing the visitor book at an archaeological site from horseback.

Jose, Palomino Ranch Hotel's maestro de caballos, takes a break.

Eating in El Remate

Mon Ami, which had the bungalows in the garden which we mentioned before, is also known for it’s food which was much better than average and very reasonably priced. One warning: Don’t get hoodwinked by their less-than-clear sign about internet charges. The 10Q (about US$1.25) amount posted is PER HOUR even though that’s not mentioned on the sign…

Two places that caught our eye but we never got the chance to try are Sugar Sap, an open-air cafe with homemade desserts and what looked (and smelled) like real coffee (located near Mon Ami) and Las Orquídeas (also near Mon Ami) where people swear by the pizza.

The crystal clear waters of Lake Peten Itza at El Remate in Guatemala.

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2
Nov

Drunken Horse Racing – Sierra de los Cuchumatanes, Guatemala

Posted on November 2nd, 2011 :: Posted in Central America, Guatemala, Horseback Riding, video

Though we missed the world famous annual drunken horse racing in Todos Santos local guide Rigoberto Pablo Cruz (rigoguiadeturismo@yahoo (dot) com, good English spoken) knew that locals in a nearby town were putting on a smaller race so we jumped in the truck and drove about an hour out of Todos Santos, climbing up to more than 11,000 feet (3,352 meters) into the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes mountains.

Horses and riders assemble at the makeshift starting line during drunken horse racing near Todos Santos in Guatemala.

A soft dirt straight-away about an eighth of a mile long had been cleared through the center of the tiny, dusty town where, weirdly, there was a porta-potty in front of nearly every house.

Todos Santos horse race

The “track” was then lined with a wooden fence meant to keep the racers in and the spectators out. About eight healthy-looking horses were gathered at the makeshift starting line as less healthy-looking riders staggered around being fitted with a special hat with a very long colorful sash tied to it.

Todos Santos horse race

Two or three horses raced at a time, set off by a loud whistle. Some riders were so drunk they had to have their hands tied to the horn of their saddles. Some screamed obscenities in both Spanish and English as they flew by. Some were still holding cans of Tecate beer as they raced.

Todos Santos horse race

Some riders flew out of the saddle. Others slowly slumped to the side before hitting the ground. The majority somehow made it to the finish line, except for one guy who was ominously carried off by locals.

Rider down! The old man who fell off this brown horse was carried away by his neighbors.

Todos Santos horse race

Though we watched the madness for a couple of hours we never did figure out who “won.” Maybe winning wasn’t the point.

Todos Santos horse race
See the madness for yourself in our drunken horse racing video, below.

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10
Aug

Tiny Town – Belmopan, Belize

Posted on August 10th, 2011 :: Posted in Belize, Horseback Riding, National Park

With a population of around 20,000, Belmopan is one of the smallest national capital cities in the world. Its name is a mash up of “Belize” and Mopan (the name of the area’s main river) and it’s home to Guanacaste National Park, the nation’s first and smallest national park at just 250,000 square yards. A trail winding through the park’s patch of jungle can be walked in less than 20 minutes.

You can extend your visa in Belmopan and get a delicious and affordable typical meal at Caladium Restaurant which is a great place to see the amazing cultural diversity in Belize come together as Mennonites, Garufinas, Ladinos and expats from all walks of life come together for a meal. You can also get a good cup of coffee and some world class wings (and other international foods you might be craving) at Perk Up Coffee and Wine Bar, along with the requisite java house Wi-Fi.

Karen in her favorite place in the world (on a horse) during a ride at Banana Bank Lodge in Belize.

We passed through Belmopan in order to get to nearby Banana Bank Lodge & Jungle Equestrian Adventure, the country’s first and largest horseback riding operation with nearly 100 horses (all bred and trained on the property) and more than 4,000 acres of land including jungle, stretches of river, cultivated fields and large stands of teak.

Banana Bank, which can be booked through Hidden Trails, was created by artist Carolyn Carr and her husband, rancher John Carr who pioneered cattle ranching in Belize after setting on the land here decades ago.

Anything that has the words “equestrian adventure” right in the name is a magnet for Karen so we headed there to do some riding. With so many horses it’s easy for John and his local wranglers to match the right horse to the right rider. Our horses were well-behaved and responsive and we had a lot of fun on them through varied terrain where we were able to spot toucans, howler monkeys and a big scary-looking snake.

This year Banana Bank began offering a brand new ride called Surf & Turf (US$310). Partnering with Tropic Airlines, this day-long, one-of-a-kind ride starts with a 30 minute flight along the coast from the island of Ambergris Caye to Belmopan (that’s the surf part). Once on the tarmac, guests are picked up on horseback (the turf part). All saddled up, the ride tours through Belmopan then along the banks of the Mopan river. A picnic lunch, swim in the river and return ride to the airport round out the day before the coastal flight back to Ambergris Caye.

The art and ag influences at Banana Bank converge to create an eclectic lodge with a very wide range of accommodation options from two bedroom thatch-roof cabanas to private rooms to a large dorm. All of the wood in the construction was harvested off the property and Carolyn’s art is sprinkled throughout. There’s also a large pool that was designed in the shape of the Golden Mean (also called the Golden Ratio or the Golden Spiral, an equation that helps explain natural shapes and beauty.

However, horses aren’t the only animals at Banana Bank.

Primate meets primate: Eric with one of the spider monkeys at Banana Bank Lodge.

Carolyn and John have amassed a mini-menagerie on the grounds of the lodge including two spider monkeys (one friendly, one not so much) and an enormous aviary which houses dozens of exotic birds including macaws, parrots and a cranky little aracai (a sort of mini toucan).

Feathers. Art you can fly with.

Ever seen inside an aracari's bill/mouth? Now you have.

Then there’s the jaguar. Tikatoo came to Banana Bank as a cub after the owners got a call from a local forestry official who said the cub had been found abandoned in the jungle. He’d heard that Banana Bank had a jaguar enclosure (it was built to house a previously rescued jaguar named Tika who had recently died). After some repairs and upgrades to the enclosure, Banana Bank gave the orphaned jaguar a home.

Tikatoo is all grown up now and she’s quite a charmer. It took about 30 seconds for Eric to fall in love and the following pictures are a mere fraction of the number of shots he took of her during our stay.