Reu… the Anaheim of Guatemala followed by a good dose of the Watermelon Flu

We left Antigua before 8 AM on Monday morning, not exactly sure where we were going but heading toward the Northwest Corner of Guatemala.  We have converted our Ford Excursion into a “camper” by removing all the back seats and replacing them with our bed (storage under it), a small fridge and dog crates.  While this works great for Fritz, the dogs and I, adding another human passenger into the mix gets a little tricky, the solution was to make a seat out of the dog crates that Sosa and I took turns riding in, at first the dogs loved having us in the back but by day two Kona was trying to move me out of his bed and into the back, back with Haole!

Retalhuleu commonly known as Reu, is a top destination for Guatemalan tourists, it boasts the Guatemalan equivalent of Disneyland with a water park as well as a theme park and there is also a beach about an hour’s drive from the city.  Other than that it is nothing but Hotels and Restaurants. Our hotel in Antigua had recommended a resort called IRITA but it was booked so instead we found a “Motel 6” and stopped there for the night, our actual destination was Tak'alik but we didn’t want to arrive after dark as their website stated it was a difficult road.  So for the night we spent in Reu we visited the local town, ate some street churicos (ok not sure if that is even a word but they resemble mini gorditas or tosadas), and then returned to the hotel to drink cerveza and smuggle the doggies into the air conditioned room.  The hotel had a pool but I wouldn’t get into it, which is kind of weird because I will swim in a stream, but a pool filled with dead bugs is a no, I am weird like that.

The next day we woke early to make the trek to Tak’alik.  I was feeling a bit under the weather and at first I thought it was the cerveza from the night before but soon realized it was worse, the Guatemalan flu.  This is a bug that many travelers get in Guatemala and includes aches, pains, fevers and yuckiness for as much as a week.  When I told Sosa I thought that I was getting it she looked at me concerned and puzzled and asked “You can get the flu from Watermelon” I guess my pronunciation was messed up by my stuffy nose!

Tak’alik was less than an hour away and well worth the time to visit.  The Lodge sits on a Finca that used to grow coffee but when the price fell in 2002 the Don had the “dream” to turn it into a lodge.  There are 10 rooms with electricity and 2 rooms without, but the ones without electricity are more luxurious and expensive.  The whole place is a bit pricey but as we were playing “hosts” to our friend Ana we decided to splurge and go with the room plus ruin tour. 

Our first tour of the day was through the plantation down to a waterfall where they had created a swimming hole.  On the plantation they still grow coffee as well as Ulee.  Anyone who knows my family, my dad especially, knows what an Ulee is, it is strip of rubber usually cut from a bicycle tire.  These things are better than bungee cords in holding things in place and better than duct tape to fix holes in hoses and they have about a million other uses.  The funny thing is that everyone thought that Ulee was a made up word, it isn’t it means rubber! And I have pictures of the Ulee Trees to prove it!

In the afternoon we were supposed to ride horses to the ruins and take a tour of the site but couldn’t because my husband.  On the way to the waterfall he said that it would be great if it really poured while we were there, and Mother Nature gave him a belated Birthday present, a tropical thunderstorm compete with hail and a mini tornado! 

Ok I will admit it was awesome and since I wasn’t really feeling up to the horseback ride I was thankful too.

In the morning we did the horseback ride down to the ruins, not a very impressive ride or site and exactly the touristy thing we are supposed to be avoiding, but Sosa had fun, and we did too.