Guatemala Ceremonial Journey Trip Report
The short version of a sacred experience
What a beautiful day it was, when we were gently waiting for our participants to arrive in a French coffee house on one of the old cobbled streets of Antigua Guatemala. One of the participants had already arrived and we were indulging in sweet cakes and good coffee. That’s one of the things Antigua came to stand for in the last few years: great coffee. Blessed by our sweets and heightened in spirit by our coffees we walked off to the central square and watched the fountain pour its waters while enjoying the gentle bustle of the old capital of the republic of Guatemala. Guatemala is a varied and interesting, raw and magical (although not too democratic) republic in Central America. Many colonial powers have tried their best at colonizing here, and they have succeeded in some parts, including Antigua. We walked our way to the hotel to welcome the rest of the trip participants, arriving fresh from another world. We greeted them and allowed them to have a long and healing sleep after their 16 hour flights from Europe.
The next morning we had our first breakfast together and afterwards held up two silver and blue Tuc tucs to jump in the game and get our exciting day started. They took us to the soulful farmers market at Caoba Farms, a locally run grassroots farming project, where we enjoyed an introduction to Gigi’s cacao workshop and her way of preparing the top-notch ceremonial grade chocolate she sells under the brand name Cacao Junajpu. We had a typical Guatemalan lunch and left for the Capuchinas convent and its sounding chamber, where we spontaneously lined up in a hexagram formation and did a sounding ritual. Magical.
The next morning we set off towards the West, where the mountains and the Atitlan Lake awaited. First, though, we met up with our amazing and deeply connected Maya spiritual guide, Francisco Puac, at the temples of Iximche. What a lovely day it was, sunny and bright, and we formed a small circle next to one of the pyramids where we proudly gave our first offerings to the spirits of the site and to the energies of the day. The small ceremonial site of Iximche truly is a hidden gem in Guatemala. It is often overlooked on the tourist trail because of its small size, but this old Kaqchiquel capital remains a very attractive ceremonial center for spiritual guides and diviners from the region and abroad. After our visit we enjoyed a late lunch in a typical Guatemalan family restaurant (with overly loud marimba music and confused waiters) before heading out to Panajachel, a small city on the Eastern shore of Atitlan where most of the logistics and transportation in and out of the lake area happens. After a short boat ride and conquering the 360 steps of our most magnificent home base for the coming week, hotel Lomas de Tzununa, we arrived to our comfortable rooms and their 180 degree view of the wild Atitlan Lake.
We enjoyed our first night at the lake in tranquility, and the next morning started off with the ceremonial opening of our five day workshop series with Don Francisco. It was a fascinating sequence where we learned to reattune to a cosmocentric thinking and knowledge as opposed to our standard Western anthropocentric view of existence. The afternoons were spent relaxing and discovering the rich environments of the Atitlan Lake. We visited San Juan, a small indigenous weavers’ town with lots of spirit and local grassroots engagement. We checked out the towns of San Pedro and San Marcos and went hiking and discovering the beautiful Tzununa valley and its waterfalls. The nights were spent in cozy heart sharing circles, supporting our integration process and the group energy, and sometimes we would chant or play music together. It was a short and vivid week, and a perfect preparation for what was to come: a group adventure in the North of Guatemala, where we’d visit the sacred sites and honor their sacred knowledge.
So it was that we left off to Guatemala City on Saturday. It’s a big and messy place that clearly mirrors the hurt and dysfunction of a consumerist and colonized society. We managed to have a lovely lunch on the university premises and on the way through the city made an effort to visit the National Archaeological Museum. There we had a brief outline of the anthropologic and archaeologic findings and surveys made over the years, and also learned that a lot of the more important artefacts of the Maya’s cultural and spiritual heritage are now found in big museums in different places. Nonetheless, the National Archaeological Museum was worth a short visit.
We then took the luxury night bus from the old center of Guatemala City straight into the Peten, the massive Northern department of Guatemala where lots of discovered and undiscovered temples lie. Here we were, at 5:30 AM, just off the night bus and just in time for the sunrise at the beautiful Lake Peten Itza. We then went and had breakfast, and continued our journey to Sayaxche, a small town on the Rio de la Pasion which meanders into Chiapas and down to the Mexican Gulf. We spent a lovely couple of days visiting two small and very impressive sacred sites called Aguateca and El Ceibal. Towering Ceiba trees and wild virgin forests – some of the only primary forests in Guatemala – inspired and enchanted us. We were offered a glimpse of what it must have been to live here, as we were practically alone on the sites. Mystical animals guided our visits as well as the lovely Don Julian, the owner of the lodge where we were staying. Our nights were spent in the shelter of the Posada Caribe, surrounded by the howler monkeys accompanying us with their loud and mystical sounds.
After this very sacred and beautiful experience we moved into tourist territory and discovered the more preserved and impressive-looking ceremonial sites of Tikal, Uaxactun and Yaxha. We spent a lovely three days at La Casa de Don David, on the Eastern shores of lake Peten Itza in El Remate, from where we discovered the different temples in the area. Tikal is just such a special site. We managed to get in at 6AM and do our ceremony on the central plaza’s altar at first daylight, before the arrival of the tour buses and big crowds. It was strong and beautiful, and we spent quite a lot of time discovering the different complexes and receiving the teachings about the symbology from Francisco. Tikal remains such a classic and a worth while visit for any tourist in Guatemala, whether they may have a spiritual intention in visiting the country or not.
We continued doing our lovely heart sharings in the night
time and kept training ourselves to wake up around earlier and earlier, in
preparation for our jungle trek to El Mirador. We enjoyed the small and
beautiful temples of Uaxactun and its village’s vibe, and after a wonderful
family-style lunch in a local small eatery we made it back to El Remate, and
the next day left just as early for the massive temple complex of Yaxha. A
total beauty, and very well preserved place next to a small lagoon in the
middle of the jungle. Our ceremony was strong again and we thoroughly enjoyed
the lovely views from on top of the biggest temple 216.
We then continued to the small colonial town of Flores and had a lovely night’s
sleep before heading out at, yes, 5AM and set off on our two day-hike to El
Mirador, the largest of all the Maya ceremonial sites. It was a little hard in
the sense that the trail was dried up and slightly uneven, but we were covered
by the forest canopy the whole way through. We were truly spoiled by our
delightful cooking lady and her motherlike way of generously flooding our table
with amazingly fresh and high-quality food. Even in the midst of the jungle.
With gratitude to the mules who carried all the food as well as our day packs.
After two days we finally made it to the temple complex of El Mirador. This is one of the oldest and the biggest of all Maya cities. What a beautiful and tranquil place it is, full of wildlife and ancient knowledge of the mother forest. It is here that we did our final and first full Maya fire ceremony, on the central altar of this place. It was the final coming together of our experiences over the past three weeks, and where we truly got to integrate the things we had seen and experienced. What a joy.
Now we were ready to go home. We slowly prepared for our return and the finishing of the group journey. What a beautiful and organic process it had been. After two more days of hiking through the jungle we made it back to Flores, and then had a lovely shower and a great dinner before getting on the night bus to Guatemala City. There we arrived early morning and after courageously conquering the city’s morning traffic we made it to the warm and relaxed beach town of El Paredon. We had gone from the upper North to the lower South of Guatemala in only 48 hours, over land. What a blessing to be able to greet and bathe in the = waves of the Pacific as a simple and laid-back finish to this journey. Here we were, looking at the waves from our hammocks and enjoying a lovely afternoon before heading back to Guatemala City and spending our last night and morning together in peace and gratitude, and taking our time for goodbyes and see-you-laters… What a journey it’s been… Quite wonderful indeed.
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