The Hollandse Biesbosch is a national park and large freshwater tidal area. It is kind of like a forest but with loads of meadows and canals. It’s just across the river from where my family lives in Sliedrecht. I made two visits to the biesbosch.
The first visit was by boat with some of my cousins, Rob, Roel and Irene. We entered the biesbosch area by passing through a lock. then the boys navigated us through some of the canal systems, being sure to point out where my dad used to take them camping when they were little. On our way out of the area we stopped at a canal-side pub for a drink and a snack.
My second visit to the biesbosch was with my aunt, Marjan. We took our bikes on the waterbus to cross from Sliedrecht to the Biesbosch. We had intended to go and visit the Grindmuseumpad which is a 6 kilometer walk through a specific section of the biesbosch. It was an area where my dad used to work. Unfortunately, that area is closed one day of the week, and that happened to be the day we were there. So instead we walked another route, enjoying the fresh air, warm weather and the country side. After our stroll and photo taking excursion, we cycled back to Sliedrecht over the railway bridge and then along the dijk. Despite not getting to see the Grindmuseumpad, we still had a fabulous afternoon.
Utrecht
Utrecht is a very popular city in the province of Utrecht, an hour north-east by train from Sliedrecht. It is a beautiful old city famous for the canals, most of which have two tiers, so you can actually sit by the water and have a coffee or head up to the higher level for some shopping.
Utrecht is often referred to as being a student city, though I am not sure I saw much evidence of this. I was headed to Utrecht for a conference, but managed a half day of sightseeing prior to the conference starting.
I had a great time just wandering along all the cobblestone streets. The two main sights I visited were the Dom Church and the Dom Tower. Originally they were one building but due to a major earthquake the section joining the two parts was destroyed and they are now two separate entities. They are both gorgeous, but my favourite by far was the tower. Entry to the church is by donation and you can come and go as you please. Entry to the tower is by guided tour only. Be sure to turn up within a reasonable time frame as it is a very popular tour and is often booked out. The cost was 9 euros, and absolutely worth the money!
A large portion of the Netherlands is below sea level and the land has been reclaimed so that it is inhabitable. The Dutch have very innovative (in my opinion) canal systems, dijks and locks for managing the water. In war time, between 1815-1940 there was a section referred to as the Waterlinie (Water Line) which runs from North to South, and was able to be flooded at will as a defence mechanism, blocking enemies attempting to invade from the east.
Along the Waterlinie forts, bunkers and castles were built. I spent a half day visiting a tiny portion of the Waterlinie with my cousin Quinty and her partner Adriaan. We started off at Fort Altena. Then visited the adorable little town of Woudrichem and ended with a visit to the castle, Slot Loevenstein.
In all of these places you can find the most adorable old architecture, it is well worth taking the time to wander around all of these sites. If the weather is good, it could be fun to pack a picnic, as there are many waterside spots to sit and relax. If you aren’t the picnicking type, then all of these sites have fantastic cafes and restaurants to stop for food and/or drink. We certainly enjoyed a beer in the sun outside Slot Loevenstein.
If you have the time, I would also suggest exploring additional sites along the Waterlinie.
Rotterdam is an interesting city, it got almost completely destroyed in the second world war through bombing (the city that lost it’s heart) and as a result is the most architecturally modern city in the Netherlands. It is a place that visited often, but only ever to shop; and despite my interest in architecture, I had never really bothered to look at the city, so it was about time to change that!
One way I really enjoy getting to know a city is through free walking tours. There are many cities that offer free walking tours, always offered by people who genuinely love their city and work for tips.
Surprisingly and disappointingly, it wasn’t so easy to find a free walking tour in Rotterdam in 2015, at the time of writing this post.
As Rotterdam has started to gain more tourist appeal, the walking tour options have improved, and inspired a revamp/rewrite of this post. My knowledge and interest of the city has also grown since I recently became a Rotterdam resident.
Rotterdam Free Walking Tour
On Saturday June 17th, 2017 Tim, Vincent and Hans started Free Walking Tour Rotterdam. Eager to see what the guys had to offer and coinciding with a visit from friends I went on their first tour.
Tim and Vincent did a fantastic job of showing the city sights, explaining the city’s history and sharing with us what makes the city tick.
Since I now live in Rotterdam I can vouch for the fact that the tour hits all the highlights including my personal favourites: the Market hall, Cube houses, Old Harbour and the White House.
At this stage Free Walking Tours Rotterdam only operate on Saturdays at 1:30pm from the Market hall. Due to popularity they are investigating increasing the frequency of the tours.
A range of walking tour options
Ani & Haakien hostel have a broad range of free walking tours on offer within Rotterdam, as well as a few offerings for paid tours further afield (If I hadn’t already been – the tour to the UNESCO heritage listed Kinderdijk would be pretty high on priority list!).
I enjoyed the architectural walking tour of the city, which runs on Saturdays at 11am. The tour covers the history of the city’s architecture, the architectural styles over time and the city’s programs for renovations. The focus of the tour was definitely the older architecture, pre and post war, but with little attention paid to newer architectural structures such as the new Market hall.
The added bonus – you do not need to be a hostel guest to access their tours and the staff I spoke to were awesome, friendly and helpful! (If I had a need to stay in Rotterdam, I would definitely book a bed in this hostel)
Self Guided Walking Tours
If, like I was, you are stuck with the problem of not being in Rotterdam the day that a particular tour is offered then the next best option is a self guided walking tour – which is obviously free.
For this I have two recommendations. For architecture and the general sights of Rotterdam I would recommend the app from Rotterdam Tourist Information. If you prefer to check out street art then the Rewriters App is fabulous. (they do also offer a paid street art tour on the weekends when enough people are interested).
My self-guided street art tour
With a keen interest in street art and the knowledge that Rotterdam had numerous hidden gems, I was pretty excited to hit the streets of Rotterdam. The best option I found was an app called Rewriters. The app costs a dollar but provides a fantastic interactive map through Rotterdam to a great number of interesting works of art from a variety of artists. The app contains audio and text to explain a bit about the artist of each piece, as well as some information about the piece itself.
I really had a fantastic time checking out all the art works, I was impressed by the quality of the work and range of styles and pieces visited on the route. It was also a great way for me to get to know my new city better.
The app offers two complete walking routes, one within central Rotterdam and the other in Capelle aan den Ijssel – this one is still on my ‘To Do’ list.
Note: Ani & Haakien offer a Graffiti and Bar Tour on Friday nights at 9pm. I was interested in checking out the street art in the middle of winter, so wasn’t prepared to walk for 1.5 hours in the dark and cold. Now that we have long daylight hours in Summer, I have already seen the majority of the art and as a result have not done this tour myself.
My self-guided architectural walking tour
The app is really well designed and walks you from place to place, with pictures, maps, descriptions and audio. I went with my cousin Roel and his friend Sjoerd (they are both still students and require good english for their studies and future careers, so the outing was partly english practice for them and partly about seeing the city).
The tour has 46 places of interest to visit, but we had limited time and were easily distracted by shops, food and drinks, so only managed to visit about 9 of them.
The tour starts at the tourist information office on the Coolsingel of Rotterdam, a short walk from Rotterdam Blaak train station. From there it heads across to the Maritime museum, though I am not sure why. The third stop was the Museum of Rotterdam, which was a gorgeous old building. The only seventeenth century building in the city center that was left standing after the war.
Continuing on was another old building, St Laurens Church, which was the only surviving late-gothic building from the original medieval city of Rotterdam. It was badly damaged in the war, but has since been restored.
Just a block or so from the cathedral the style of architecture is a drastic change, and switches from classic to extremely modern. The new markethall, the library, the pencil building and the cube houses are all very interesting designs.
Library, Cube Houses, Pencil Building & Blaak station
The markethall is the newest of these, having been opened in October 2014 (not even a year ago). It has an arch shape, through the arch are apartments, the two ends are capped with glass walls. Internally the center section is filled with market stalls, cafes and restaurants. The walls and ceiling of the hall are beautiful bright colours and are essentially an artwork representing the foods and flowers you might find in a market, as well as some depictions of neighbouring buildings, such as the Laurens Church. It’s a thoroughly fascinating piece of architecture, one that has drawn many people in the direction of Rotterdam, where previously Amsterdam was the big drawcard of the nation.
From this very modern area in the direction of the wharf, at least one older building can be found, The White House. The first Dutch “Skyscraper” standing a not so high 45 metres tall, with 11 storeys. It’s a gorgeous building by the water, but once again, provides such a contrast to the modern buildings nearby.
From here it is about a block to the river where you can see the iconic Erasmusbrug and Willemsbrug (bridges). These weren’t on the walking tour officially, but they were so close that I threw them in for my own interest. The last stop I made it to from the official list was the Red Apple building. It’s a very new building and has quite a large overhang. I noticed actually, that many of the modern buildings in Rotterdam has an overhanging component, which I find fascinating, not to mention and engineering wonder (that is, to me, who is not an engineer).
We finished up our afternoon with a beer in one of the many restaurants in the market hall. A fabulous end to an enjoyable afternoon!
Franks Tours: Frank runs tours through Ani & Haakien, as well as independently. His city tour and graffiti tour both sound like they are worthy of investigation.
Urban Guides: Cost is between €17,50 – €25, tours take 2,5-3 hours and it is by bicycle – this one sounds pretty cool, but in September it only operates on the weekend and unfortunately my weekends are already all booked up. Leijnse Stadtoers: Cost is €15, it takes 1,5 hours and is available on request. Gilde Rotterdam: Cost is €5, it takes 1,5 to 2 hours and there is an agenda from which you can select a walk. Rotterdam Roots: Cost is crazy expensive, tour lengths range from 1,5 to 4 hours. City Walking Tours: They offer a few tours, you need to call or email for bookings.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in December 2015, the walking tour options in Rotterdam have since greatly improved and this post has been revised and republished as a result. Happy Walking!
Something I have made no secret of, is the fact that I am dual citizen Dutch-Australian. My immediate family lives in Australia, but the remainder of my family lives in a small town in The Netherlands, called Sliedrecht. It is in the province of South Holland.
I find that when I visit the family I tend to stop blogging, because it is home to me. I have visited every 3 years since I was 3 months old and I don’t really see it as one of my adventures. However thinking about it, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t blog about it because it’s just as beautiful, interesting and history-rich as any other place I visit.
So, in addition to standard home life, I have done a bit of sightseeing in my first week here. My cousin Roel and I made a day trip to The Hague, I visited the windmills of Kinderdijk and I went to a food truck festival in Dordrecht with a cousin and her family.
The Hague
The Hague (Den Haag) is in South Holland on the west coast of the country. It is the political capital of the nation, it’s where the government, the parliament and various homes of royal family members can be found. It is also where most foreign embassies can be found (I have personal experience with the Australian embassy, as a 16 year old I only had a Dutch passport and left Australia after my re-entry permit had expired. So I had to make a quick trip to the Aussie embassy to get a new permit so I could return home).
The Hague isn’t a city where I have spent much time, but it is a pretty cool place to visit. The city center has some fantastic architecture, some very important and historical buildings and a lovely atmosphere. An interesting art gallery in the city center that is worth visiting is Panorama Mesdag. The gallery was created simply to house the enormous 14m by 40m cylindrical panorama painting. Even for someone who isn’t into art, the idea of this massive cylindrical panorama is really cool, as a 16 year old at my last visit I can assure you I didn’t appreciate it as much as it is worthy of. Entry costs 10 euros.
Nearby The Hague is a place called Madurodam where much of the Netherlands has been re-created in miniatures. I used to love going as a kid, but haven’t returned since I was 18. Entry costs 13,50 euros. If you have never been to Madurodam, then I highly recommend it, it provides a fantastic insight into the country, the culture and the history.
Also, just a 2km walk/cycle from the city center is one of The Netherlands’ more famous beaches, Scheveningen. When you tease people about trying to pronounce crazy words from a different language, we use this beaches name. In my recent visit to The Hague, we had planned to cycle to Scheveningen, but ran out of time.
With some of those facts aside, my cousin Roel and I made a half day visit to The Hague. I really enjoyed wandering around the old city, stopping for coffee and simply enjoying the atmosphere. The contrast of old and new architecture is thoroughly fascinating. Mostly you see old buildings and new buildings, but every now and then you see old and new combined in one. The old government buildings are simply gorgeous and it’s almost worth visiting just to see them. The city has a really good vibe, I’m surely I only saw the tiniest portion of what it has to offer. I would highly recommend a visit if you are in the country.
Kinderdijk
Kinderdijk is the name of a town several kilometres up the highway from Sliedrecht. With the use of my auntie’s car with built-in GPS it took about 15 minutes to drive there.
Kinderdijk is a UNESCO World Heritage listed site that is well known for the windmills. The area has 19 windmills dating from the 1500s. The windmills were originally created to control the water level in the region, which is now done by diesel pumps. One of the windmills is open to the public as a museum, but the remaining ones can only be viewed from outside.
The area is a beautiful spot to go for a stroll or cycle, you could probably even take a picnic lunch. I have been many times, but my most recent visit was when the windmills were lit up with flood lights at night time, which happens every year in the second week of September. I have seen many windmills in my life, but the night time perspective was simply stunning. For the event, entry was free, but during the day the entry fee is 7,50 euros.
Food Truck Festival
Dordrecht (often referred to as Dordt) is another town in the South Holland Province, the town where I lived and worked when in both my gap years. It’s a few kilometres from my home town of Sliedrecht, but is a slightly bigger town.
On September 12th I went to Dordt with a cousin and her family to a Food Truck Festival called Eterij op Wielen (Food on wheels). While the weather was overcast and drizzly which possibly affected the number of people visiting, it was still a fantastic and pleasant afternoon.
We shared some foods between the three adults: poffertjes (tiny dutch pancakes), pulled pork rolls, pulled chicken wraps, vegetarian pasta, hamburgers and of course a selection of wine. A fantastic afternoon/evening out!
For the last part of the tour we crossed the border back into Mexico. We followed the coastline and made two stops: Tulum and Playa Del Carmen.
Tulum
Tulum is famous for the Mayan Ruins that are perched on a cliff top overlooking the Caribbean Sea.
The day we planned to visit the site, we awoke to a downpour, which we waited out. With clear skies we headed to the site and started exploring. Firstly the site was much smaller than expected. Secondly the view of the ruins against the sea and sand was a little disappointing due to the major seaweed issue that has been plaguing the beaches on the Caribbean Sea. Despite this, it was really pretty.
By the time we were half way into our visit, the skies darkened and we watched the wall of rain and lightning approach is rapidly from over the ocean. We did a runner under our raincoats through the remainder of the site and returned to our hotel soaked through all layers of clothing.
The site opens at 8am and it is advisable to go as early as possible to avoid the heat and the crowds, though neither were an issue for us. The entry cost was 64pesos and considering the size of the site, that price is more than fair. You should allow a minimum of one hour to visit the site If you want to spend longer, maybe take some picnic food and relax under one of the trees to simply absorb the environment around you. It really is quite a nice site to visit.
The other activity we did in the city of Tulum was to take a taxi out to some local cenotes. We started with a trip to Gran Cenote. The entry cost was 150pesos and the site was quite commercialised, with a cafe, showers, toilets, as well as lockers, life jackets, diving and snorkelling gear for hire.
To keep the water clean you shower before descending the stairs to the walkways above the water. Even though the cenote is quite open at the top, descending into it makes it feel much more exotic and interesting. The walkways had ladders at various points to provide access to the water. The water was crystal clear and there were many areas you could swim, follow the walls of the sink hole, swim through caves and even swim with turtles. Even though I didn’t like how commercialised the site was, it certainly was very pretty and had variety of things to see.
The next cenotes we visited were Crystal Cenote and Escondido Cenote. The entry cost was 120pesos but was a combined ticket for entry to both (on opposite sides of the highway). Both Crystal and Escondido were less commercialised. There were very rudimentary drop toi
lets on site and a few timber benches to sit on, but that was the extent of the development. They felt much less like cenotes and more like small lakes, but were nonetheless beautiful.
Playa Del Carmen
Playa Del Carmen is roughly an hour up the coast from Tulum, in the direction of Cancun. It is a very popular tourist destination. The main street, 5th avenue is full of shops, restaurants and bars. A great spot for cheap souvenirs. The beach runs parallel to 5th avenue, but is one block down. The beach, like in Tulum, is plagued with seaweed. So unfortunately there is no beautiful white beaches and crystal clear water .
Something interesting and helpful to understand about Playa Del Carmen is the street naming system. Avenues run parallel to the beach and go up in fives eg. Avenida 5, Avenida 10 etc. Streets run perpendicular and go up in twos eg. Calle 2, Calle 4.
With no set plans and some days to spare a few of us booked an apartment with a pool, using airbnb. So we spent a few days pottering around the local area and chilling out by the pool.
I’m sure there is loads more to see and do in the Playa Del Carmen area but after touring Mexico, Guatemala and Belize for close to a month, a few days off in a sunny location is exactly what we needed.
Lauren is also the author of the travel blog Never Ending Footsteps, which I will admit I have not read and have only recently subscribed to.
I came across Lauren’s book and blog via her boyfriend Dave Dean, author of the travel blog What’s Dave Doing? and Too Many Adapters. In preparing for my current extended travel I sought out Dave’s help and advice for things tech related and he’s a super nice guy and ridiculously helpful.
Anyway, recently Dave posted about his girlfriend’s book which has recently been published: How Not To Travel The World. Having read the summary, I thought it sounded interesting and entertaining and it did not disappoint. I am however shocked and surprised at how anyone can be so unlucky!!!!
Fittingly I read the book while on my own adventure: lying in the sun by the river in Guatemala; on a bus journey crossing from Guatemala to Belize; and sunbathing by a cenote in Mexico. I love to travel and to read anything travel related so my opinion is biased. Nonetheless, I would recommend buying the book, it’s worth a read!
It was hitting rock bottom that convinced me to quit my job, sell everything I own, and travel the world alone. After a devastating breakup, I packed my life into a backpack and left for what I hoped would be an enriching journey of self-discovery. I’d spent years spent battling with debilitating anxiety, an eating disorder and a lack of common sense, and was determined to find and heal myself.
Instead, my travels were full of bad luck and near-death experiences. I was scammed, assaulted and robbed, lost teeth and swallowed a cockroach. Instead of finding myself, I lost a laptop, a camera, $1000 and a backpack. I fell into leech-infested rice paddies, had the brakes of my motorbike fail while riding down a mountain and a boat started to sink with me on board. I was caught up in a tsunami, sat beside a corpse and experienced a very unhappy ending during a massage in Thailand.
Though I didn’t realise it at the time, I was experiencing a transformation despite the terrible things that were happening to me. My frequent panic attacks faded away as I repeatedly forced myself to leave my narrow comfort zone. I overcame my eating issues, evolving from a person who had never eaten Asian food to one who wouldn’t think twice about trying fried crickets. I even found love along the way, meeting Dave, a handsome New Zealander who taught me not to be afraid of living.
How Not to Travel The World is about following your dreams, no matter how many curveballs life throws at you. It’s about learning to get out of your comfort zone, finding the humour in messed up situations and falling in love with life on the road.
San Ignacio was our first of two stops in Belize. Interestingly Belize is the only english speaking country in Central America, and despite being told it would be quite different to the other countries, I didn’t believe it until I experienced it myself.
The town of San Ignacio was a very small, sleepy, Rastafarian town. The mix of races is predominant, and it has a much more caribbean feel than any of the previous places we visited.
While the town didn’t have a whole lot to offer, it was a gateway to a number of outdoor activities. There were loads of options, but we did two days of caving in one form or another. The tours we booked were through Maya Tours and I was impressed with their service and professionalism.
A.T.M Cave
The Actun Tunichil Muknal cave is a bit over an hour drive from San Ignacio in the Tapir Mountain Reserve. To access the cave is a 45 minute hike through the jungle and with three river crossings. The water thankfully, isn’t too cold.
The cave entrance is a pool of crystal clear, turquoise water. At this point you double check your helmet is done up, turn on your light and swim into the cave.
Throughout the cave the water varies between ankle deep and swimming depth. There are many amazing caverns, rock formations, stalagmites, stalactites and crystallisations to be seen. The cave itself is absolutely stunning and worth the visit. In the depths of the cave there is a ladder, which you climb to gain access to a large dry chamber which was used by the Mayans to perform rituals and sacrifices.
In the dry chamber are many broken pots, but more interestingly many calcified skulls and skeletons. The most famous is the full skeleton of a young adolescent boy, which is referred to as “The Crystal Maiden” (it was initially though to be the skeleton of a female).
Due to accidents in the past cameras have been banned from the caves, so unfortunately I have no photos to share.
Cave Tubing
Cave Tubing is another fantastic way to spend time in sunny hot Belize. Access to the entry point is roughly a 45 minute walk through the jungle carrying your tube and life vest. At the entry point is a ladder down to the water level.
After a quick swim, everyone jumps in their tube and paddles into the caves to start exploring the cave system by water. The only down side was that there wasn’t much water flow, so we spent a great deal of time paddling ourselves down the river.
As you paddle you enter and exit caves. Through the various caves you can see bats, stalactites and waterfalls. There are a few short stretches where the water is shallower than at other points. This is where you get to lay back, relax and ride the water flow.
The time spent in the water would have been roughly two hours. While our arms may have been a little tired from paddling at the end of the trip, it was otherwise a very relaxing and pleasant experience.
Caye Caulker
Caye Caulker is a Belizean Island off the easter coast of Belize in the Caribbean Sea. The island is 8.2km long and 2km wide at it’s widest point. It is made of limestone coral, and the ground everywhere is a powdery white.
Against the white ground and sand, the water appears as a stunning turquoise colour. Caye Caulker is a hub for tourists wanting to chill out, relax, snorkel and dive. It also seems to be a hub for people who want to party.
We had two full days on the island, the second day was spent simply relaxing and soaking up the atmosphere, wandering the island and enjoying the food and drink.
The first day we spent on the island, we did a full day sailing and snorkelling tour which was absolutely FANTASTIC!! We sailed out to the reef and had the good luck of being visited by a pod of dolphins along the way.
The first reef we went to, we all put on our snorkelling equipment and explored at our own pace. We saw some beautiful live coral and loads of varieties of colourful fish.
Arriving at our second reef stop, a school of nurse sharks swam up to the boat expecting to be fed. We did not feed them, but being a tourist destination this is a major issue caused by tourists wanting to see animals in the wild. They feed them and the animals become conditioned to expect food when a boat arrives in their area, it changes their natural behaviours.
After a short while the sharks realised we wouldn’t be giving them food, as they dissipated, we geared up and jumped on in. We were split into two groups and had guided snorkelling sessions. The guide took the opportunity to tell us the various types of fish and coral that we could see, we were shown the sleeping sharks and also a moray eel.
After ‘swimming with sharks’ we enjoyed a tasty lunch on the boat deck before heading to the third reef stop. This was a much shallower section of reef but by far my favourite simply for the fact that we had the opportunity to observe sea turtles. It was just amazing to see these creatures in their habitat!
We spent the remainder of the day slowly sailing back to Caye Caulker, enjoying the sun and indulging in some of the local rum punch!
Rio Dulce, meaning Sweet River, is a river in Guatemala. We stayed at a hotel called Tortugal which we accessed by boat. We stayed in bungalows that were on stilts above the river and it was just amazing. A great spot to relax, sunbathe, swim and enjoy happy hour cocktails.
A worthwhile activity to do from Rio Dulce is to visit the hot springs. I think they are called Finca El Paraiso and can be found near the small town of El Estor. From the car park it is a short ten minute hike in. The river is ‘cold’ water, by that I mean it is called cold water but is actually quite warm by the standards of a Tasmanian. The water from the waterfall however is hot, and I genuinely mean hot, close to boiling. It’s absolutely awesome to swim around and then be massaged by the falling hot water from the waterfall.
Flores
Our visit to Flores was an overnight stop on the way to Tikal. We arrived in the evening and left at 5am. We stayed in a lakeside resort with a gorgeous view. For dinner we wandered over to the town which was on another little island, we saw a beautiful sunset, some super cute little buildings and enjoyed happy hour at a roof top bar.
I imagine it would be a nice place to spend a half or full day, but it is otherwise quite a small place.
Tikal
Tikal is another Mayan archaeological site, but compared to the others we had visited it was a great deal bigger and felt a bit more raw and natural. Each temple was a short jungle hike away from the next. We only saw about 2% of the park as it is simply enormous. The site is over 400 square kilometres and is in Guatemala, but reasonably close to the border of Belize.
Tikal is a more recent name given to the site and it means “Voices of the Spirits”. The jungle in which the site can be found makes all sorts of noises, particularly eerie are the howler monkeys. It was from these noises that it got the name Tikal. Its real name however, is Mutul.
Many people believe that the Mayans regularly made sacrifices to the gods, particularly human sacrifice. In later years and in other places human sacrifice became more prominent in the culture, however at the when Tikal was inhabited it was not very common and was only done for very special occasions. An example is when someone wins a particular type of ball game. They person who wins is honoured with being sacrificed to the gods. They are cut below the rib, then green obsidian is used to cut through everything else to make a passage to the heart. Then they reach in and pull out the heart to sacrifice, they burn it as incense and the smoke will rise up and appease the gods.
All the temples we saw were simply stunning, and it’s always such a wonder that they were able to create such large and beautiful structures with none of the tools we have today. They really were very innovative!
In addition to the stunning buildings, the jungle was just gorgeous. We were lucky enough to see spider monkeys, grey foxes and toucans. We briefly heard howler monkeys but only at a distance.
Antigua is a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Guatemalan highlands at 1500 metres above sea level. It was founded in the early 16th century. Like Lake Atitlan it is in an earthquake prone region surrounded by volcanos. There was a large scale earthquake in 1773 which destroyed almost the entire city. Much of Antigua was rebuilt, though some of the old monuments remaining.
The city has an Italian/Spanish influence and like so many other towns has such character in the buildings and cobbled streets. It’s just fantastic to wander and explore. I spent quite some time getting lost in the streets and have loads of awesome pictures of the different streets, doorways and ruins.
Pacaya Volcano
For US$20 and a national park entrance fee of 50 quetzales, a group of five of us did a half day tour to the Pacaya Volcano. It’s roughly a 1.5 hour bumpy drive from Antigua.
The hike is not overly challenging and is 6 kilometers return. As you might imagine the hike there was uphill and the return was downhill. Despite having a terrible, uninterested guide, the hike was pretty awesome and we were all glad we did it.
We thought we would be walking to the crater, but this was not actually the case. We walked to a viewing platform of sorts and then descended a short distance to the base of the 2010 lava flow.
It was interesting to see the lava flow and all the broken chunks of volcanic rock. At the very base there was a small hole in which we were able to roast marshmallows. Despite being quite some distance from the actual craters edge, it was incredible how hot the air coming from the lava flow was.
Coffee Plantation Tour
A group of ten of us booked a private tour to the Azotea Coffee Plantation. The transport cost 30 Quetzales and entrance to the plantation with guided tour was 50 Quetzales, all up the trip was approximately 2.5 hours.
The tour was throughly fascinating and we had a brilliant guide. I learned some very interesting things along the way.
Coffee was discovered accidentally in Ethiopia when a farmers goats ate the beans and then couldn’t sleep and were incredibly energetic. Coffee is rated in terms of quality and production. For quality the top three producers are Ethiopia, Kenya and Guatemala. For production, or quantity, the top three are Brazil, Vietnam and Columbia.
There are two main types of coffee, the first is Arabica which is grown in the shade, allowing the coffee to be a better quality, but it doesn’t produce a great quantity as it can only be harvested once a year. The second type is Robusta, which is grown in the sun and can be harvested twice a year, which leads to higher production quantities.
When coffee beans are red they are ready to be picked. This is called a coffee cherry. Each cherry contains 2 beans, though occasionally a cherry will contain just one bean, in which case it is referred to as peaberry coffee. The beans are stripped of their husks to access the bean itself, before being roasted. Beans are typically roasted to medium, medium dark or dark roast. Once roasted they are ready to be ground and prepared to drink.
At the end of the tour we got the opportunity to taste a standard medium dark roast, which was a bit strong for me, and a peaberry coffee which had a more subtle flavour.
The plantation owner from the year 1912 onwards, Alberto Orive Del Pando has been quoted as having said “Coffee should be black as night, strong as passion, sweet as love and hot as hell”. I still like my coffee sweet and white, but I think he did a great job with the plantation as they continue to produce great coffee!
After quite a long day of transit and a border crossing, we found ourselves in the lakeside village of Panajachel in Guatemala, on the shore of Lake Atitlan.
Atitlan is a word that means “place of water”. It is a lake in the Guatemalan highlands, at an altitude of 1564meters above sea level, which has a rough size of 130 square kilometers. The area around Lake Atitlan is near the meeting point of three tectonic plates and experiences regular earthquakes, they say daily, though I didn’t feel any. The lake is also bordered by three large, now dormant, volcanoes: San Pedro, Atitlan and Toliman. These provide the most amazing view of course.
Panajachel
From our base in Panajachel we made a few minor excursions but otherwise took it quite easy. The town of Panajachel has a population of around 11,000 and is really cute and the people are very friendly. There are loads of market stalls by the side of the road and the sellers have some quite lovely items, though none of the sellers are excessively persistent for which I am grateful. For the coffee lovers Cafe Loco is worth a visit. I wasn’t fortunate enough to go as it was closed when I popped by, but some friends went and I heard reports that the coffee was genuinely AMAZING! Sunset cafe by the lakeside is a fabulous location, and the service was good, but the hotel restaurant a block above it is actually a bit better. In front of the sunset cafe is a great ‘mirador’, viewpoint, to take pictures of the lake and volcanoes.
From the mirador it is easy to access the public jetty, it was here that we rented a private boat for our group of 12, to cross the lake to visit the villages of San Juan and San Pedro. A group of 12 of us, a scenic route and two village stops cost us 110 Quetzales each – a bit pricey in the scheme of things, but quite cheap, much cheaper than a set tour. If you do rent a boat, be sure to go early in the day as the weather starts to crack up any time after midday and the crossing back to Panajachel can become a little rough.
San Pedro, the village at the base of San Pedro volcano wasn’t overly exciting to me. Just another busy village, perhaps I needed to walk further in to see the real charm, but it didn’t have a great deal of character as far as I was concerned.
San Juan on the other hand was bursting with character, colour and life. The streets were lined with market stalls of hand made artworks, paintings, tapestries, toys, etc. Also the town had loads of street art adorning the sides of buildings, which I thought was just gorgeous. All the people were super friendly and it was a very welcoming little village.
My favourite piece of street art was on the side of a Tortilleria (tortilla shop) and of course it depicted tortillas. It was fantastic.
A short tuk tuk ride out of Panajachel is the Atitlan nature reserve. We didn’t have enough time to tackle the zip lines through the forest unfortunately, but we did do a short nature walk to see some of the forest, walk across swinging bridges, visit a butterfly house and my favourite…watch the spider monkeys swinging in the trees.
San Jorge Homestay
In the afternoon of our second day in Panajachel, we packed up our stuff and headed a little further around the lake and into the hills a bit to the village of San Jorge, where we were paired up and sent to stay with a Mayan family overnight.
San Jorge is a village of approximately 3000 people. The people speak the Mayan language Kaqchikel, which is a very challenging language with many interesting guttural noises. The primary industry for people living in San Jorge is construction. The men are considered the primary workers, the women of course work just as hard, but at different things, such as having babies, managing stores, making jewellery, tapestries and paintings to sell at the markets and other such things.
Our family, Alejandra, Juan and some of their children, welcomed Anthony and I into their home, near the center plaza of San Jorge. Alejandra and Juan have been married for forty years, they have eleven children, six of whom have moved out of home, married and produced 8 grandchildren. Of the five children who still live at home the youngest three are still attending school and the older two work.
The home we stayed in was small, but comfortable, there were two rooms for homestay guests, of which Anthony and I had a room each. The opened on to an open courtyard. At the front of the courtyard was a big sink for preparing food, washing dishes and other general household uses. At the back of the courtyard were the shower and toilet. To the right was the dining room, from the dining room, the room to the left was the family bedroom (I assume) and to the right was the kitchen.
When we arrived we chatted for a bit in broken Spanish to learn about our host family. Alejandra and her daughter Angelica dressed me up in traditional costume, and then Anthony and I went out to explore the town. It is a very poor village, but the people and the children were all so happy and welcoming. I received many comments and compliments on my outfit; and all the children we saw wanted to play with us and have their picture taken.
Once we returned home we were given mugs of Pinol to drink, it’s a local hot drink, the nearest description of which would be sweet corn tea. Our pinol was accompanied with the main meal of Polique (a thick corn and chicken soup), boiled chicken, carrot and choco (otherwise known as water potato, though I had never heard of such a thing), served with tamalito (a corn bread that is steamed in leaves) for dipping into the soup. The meal was a very traditional one, one that is often served at parties and weddings. We certainly felt that this was a more lavish dish than they would normally have, but they were very proud to share with us meals that are considered traditional. It was delicious!
By this stage everyone was exhausted and we had an early night. The morning was quite short as we needed to depart by 8am. Our host mother had gotten up early to prepare fresh tortillas served with refried black beans and scrambled eggs, served with a cup of coffee, that tasted remarkably like the pinol.
The homestay experience is always extremely awkward due to the inability to communicate effectively, but it is always an interesting experience and it really is one of the best ways that you can learn about a culture. It’s also a good way to give back to the community, they get paid for hosting people, they may receive donations and sometimes people buy the products they make – I bought some beaded bracelets.
After our hearty breakfast we piled into the bus and headed for Antigua.
The Hollandse Biesbosch is a national park and large freshwater tidal area. It is kind of like a forest but with loads of meadows and canals. It’s just across the river from where my family lives in Sliedrecht. I made two visits to the biesbosch.
My second visit to the biesbosch was with my aunt, Marjan. We took our bikes on the waterbus to cross from Sliedrecht to the Biesbosch. We had intended to go and visit the Grindmuseumpad which is a 6 kilometer walk through a specific section of the biesbosch. It was an area where my dad used to work. Unfortunately, that area is closed one day of the week, and that happened to be the day we were there. So instead we walked another route, enjoying the fresh air, warm weather and the country side. After our stroll and photo taking excursion, we cycled back to Sliedrecht over the railway bridge and then along the dijk. Despite not getting to see the Grindmuseumpad, we still had a fabulous afternoon.
Utrecht is a very popular city in the province of Utrecht, an hour north-east by train from Sliedrecht. It is a beautiful old city famous for the canals, most of which have two tiers, so you can actually sit by the water and have a coffee or head up to the higher level for some shopping.
I had a great time just wandering along all the cobblestone streets. The two main sights I visited were the Dom Church and the Dom Tower. Originally they were one building but due to a major earthquake the section joining the two parts was destroyed and they are now two separate entities. They are both gorgeous, but my favourite by far was the tower. Entry to the church is by donation and you can come and go as you please. Entry to the tower is by guided tour only. Be sure to turn up within a reasonable time frame as it is a very popular tour and is often booked out. The cost was 9 euros, and absolutely worth the money!
The markethall is the newest of these, having been opened in October 2014 (not even a year ago). It has an arch shape, through the arch are apartments, the two ends are capped with glass walls. Internally the center section is filled with market stalls, cafes and restaurants. The walls and ceiling of the hall are beautiful bright colours and are essentially an artwork representing the foods and flowers you might find in a market, as well as some depictions of neighbouring buildings, such as the Laurens Church. It’s a thoroughly fascinating piece of architecture, one that has drawn many people in the direction of Rotterdam, where previously Amsterdam was the big drawcard of the nation.
The next cenotes we visited were Crystal Cenote and Escondido Cenote. The entry cost was 120pesos but was a combined ticket for entry to both (on opposite sides of the highway). Both Crystal and Escondido were less commercialised. There were very rudimentary drop toi
Antigua is a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Guatemalan highlands at 1500 metres above sea level. It was founded in the early 16th century. Like Lake Atitlan it is in an earthquake prone region surrounded by volcanos. There was a large scale earthquake in 1773 which destroyed almost the entire city. Much of Antigua was rebuilt, though some of the old monuments remaining.
Pacaya Volcano
