Alta Verapaz Experience Part 2

February 10- 13, 2009
Cloud Forest Trek

We had to split up our Site into 2 groups for the hike. Rob hiked with the first group and Tara hiked with the second group. The photos are of both hikes mixed together.

So where did we hike? Well we hiked from Semesche to Semuc Champey. The trek was from West to East along the mountain range called Sierra Yalijux.

If you were on a normal 4 day backpacking trip in Canada or the US, you would usually pack things like a tent, stove, food, mattress, etc. But this hike was different. No tent, no stove, no food and only a couple of people brought mattresses.

So how did we survive and cross a whole mountain range in 4 days?! We survived by the help of others. Rob and Tara work in many communites in the area. They have many strong and trustworthy relationships with the people that live in the remote villages. Over the 4 days of trekking, K'ekchi' families took us in and fed us and gave us a place to sleep.


Cargadores are people who carry things. We had a couple of local guys who came along on our trip and carried our packs. Some of them carried 2 packs at once and all the weight was on their foreheads!

This was the beginning of our hike.

We started from walking on the road to walking in the corn fields.

Mel and her pal!

Steve, Paul, Emma and Alida.

Rachael and Heather.

While we hiked through the corn fields we would sometimes come across small villages. Not many foreigners go to these remote villages because the only way to get to them is by small walking paths. So when we walked through a village, and us being a group of 15 white people, we got a lot of attention and the kids would run and sworm us. Some of the kids were brave enough to touch us or even hold our hands.

These are the magnificant mountain ranges that we either hiked or saw around us all the time!

We hiked all the way to the top right of this photo and then over the mountain range. It's cool to see how much we can walk in one day!

Jill showing off her muscles!

Holly and Marisa.

Carolyn and Nikkita in their favorite shirts!

Guatemalan snacks are awesome, especially when we are not used to eating beans and tortillas every day! Snacks we enjoy: chickys, lolas and tortrix! Mel, Nikkita, Shannon and Lindsay displaying their snacks!

Paul Kroeker, the Director of Outtatown came on the Alta Verapaz experience with us and also came on the trek. It was great having him with us and he was very encouraging to us.

One of the Cargadores taking a rest. Even though they carried our packs, they were still more in shape than us! The Mayan people are strong and resilient.

Lunch time! We took some time from hiking and ate our lunch in one of the corn fields.

After eating our lunch we began trekking in the jungle/cloud forest. It was very cool!


Shannon and Mel in the jungle! Look how green and dense it is!

More hiking in the jungle! Trevor, Nikkita, Holly, Ashley, Marisa, and Lindsay.

Marisa and Kristine in the mud! Good thing we were all wearing rubber boots!

Walkie-Talkie were "essencial" for our hiking trip. The leaders used them wishly and only for work and emergencies... and maybe also for fun. And of course there needs to be code names. Lindsay aka "Cheap Dishes" and Carolyn aka "Lady Moon" with their Walkie-Talkies.

Rob and Jill.

Lindsay helping out by patting tortillas.

Would you believe that in the remote jungles of Guatemala there would be a Swiss Lodge that was made by a Swiss couple and all the furniture was handcrafted in wood by them too? And on top of that they made Swiss food and had hot showers too? Well it's true! One night along the way on our trek we got to live in luxury and eat the most amazing food ever, sleep in beds, and have a shower with hot water!

You start to appreciate the little things in life when they are not surrounding you. For example: Mel, Shannon and Lindsay were very happy with homemade bread, butter and homemade jam. This doesn't seem like a big deal but it was for us!

This is a photo of the cloud forest from the Swiss Lodge.

All of Group 2 outside of the Swiss Lodge. We didn't want to leave this wonderful place!

Another photo of the landscape that surrounds the Swiss Lodge.

Pedro carrying one of our bags.

A couple of the guys decided to carry their own packs. Steve was one of them.

Alright everyone- keep hiking!

Random slug that Jason found on the path.

Chillin' with the kids at a remote village in the jungle.

Tara chatting with some of her friends.

As a part of the trek we had to take a truck to get to our next destination. The truck ride was bumpy and squishy! Alida, Trevor, Ashley and Marisa by their backpacks that were tied up on the outside of the truck.

Off we went for the next hour on the bumpy road.

Chris, Rachael and Josh with wind in their hair.

And this is the bumpy road- unfortunately the photo doesn't capture how bumpy it was but you get the picture- sort of.

And then back to more hiking in the mud! We did a lot of that. It wasn't like there were a couple of muddy spots in the trail. The whole trail for hours on end would be muddy!

Jason resting with his dirty boots and pant legs.

More muddy rubber boots!

Kelly was very fashionable. She rolled her boots down! I think she started a rubber boot trend!

We hadn't eaten fruit in a very long time so when Rob brought out the watermellon we all went crazy! Rachael and Kendra slicing up the watermellon for all of us to devour!

This was the end of our trek. We all made it in one piece... some a little dirty, some a little tired, some with a little more muscles and all of us with a lot of wonderful memories!

To end off our trek we had to take a 3 hour truck ride to Semuc Champey. It was long, dirty, dusty, windy, bumpy and at some points a little scary.