Guatemala: October 13 – 24, 2017
The idea for this trip came in early May as I searched for inexpensive flights using airline miles. The three cheapest places for October travel were Panama, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. While Costa Rica is always a good option we had already visited a few years ago on our the second international family trip so we narrowed it down to Panama or Guatemala. While Panama has many attractions we decided on Guatemala for its mix of cultural sites (Mayan & Colonial Spanish) as well for its coffee and birding sites.
In terms of time spent birding we dialed it back a bit compared to our Costa Rica trip and in the end saw a total of 198 species (27 lifers).
Friday, October 13, 2017: In order to get the best deal using airlines miles oftentimes you’re forced into a less than perfect itinerary. In this case instead of taking an early morning flight to Dallas and catching an afternoon flight to Guatemala City we were stuck flying to Dallas on an afternoon flight and overnighting, before catching another afternoon flight to Guatemala. As both Cat & I only had so many days of vacation left for the year we had to cut a night off our original itinerary to accommodate the wasted travel day. And so, we departed Tucson at 02:55 PM and arrived into Dallas at 05:16 PM where we would spent the night. Night at Fairfield Inn & Suites (North/Irving).
Saturday, October 14, 2017: Slept in a bit and wasted time at the hotel until the noon check-out time. Took the hotel and made it to the check-in desk in less than 10 minutes. After a bit of struggle with the automated check-in computers (Apparently they get confused when two people are traveling together with the same name) we were able to see an attendant at the desk and get our tickets and check our bag and car seat. We’re quite fortunate that our son loves to fly. Within a minute of getting seated he pulled his headphones out and was picking his way through the movie selection on the tiny touchscreen attached to the headrest.
Upon arrival (07:30PM), and after clearing customs, we were met by Rafael from Operator Latino, our ground agent for the trip and transferred to our hotel for the evening. Night in Guatemala City, Grand Tikal Futura Hotel.
Sunday, October 15, 2017: The breakfast buffet at the Grand Tikal starts at 06:00AM and we arrived shortly afterwards. The presentation, quality of food, and the number of options were extraordinary. If you must stay in the city the Grand Tikal is the perfect place to start and end a tour.
Around 07:15AM we were met by our ground agent, Operator Latino and our driver for the trip, Pedro. After a brief chat about the itinerary and an exchange of phone numbers we were off. Traffic wasn’t bad as it was a Sunday and still rather early. While the roads leading out of town were smooth and not very windy, Pierce was still able to get carsick within the first 30 minutes of the trip. After a quick stop and a bit of cleanup we hit the road again, this time not stopping until reaching our final destination, Los Tarrales.
We arrived at Los Tarrales shortly before noon and met Josué de León Lux our guide during our stay at the Reserve.
Night at Los Tarrales Reserve. Ebird list: 1
Monday, October 16, 2017: Early morning departure up to Vesubio to look for Azure-tailed Tanager and Emerald-chinned hummingbirds.
Night at Los Tarrales Reserve. Ebird list: 1, 2
Tuesday, October 17, 2017: An early morning visit to Lake Atitlan to look for Slender Sheartail.
Midday in San Juan at public boat dock/beach.
Late lunch at Los Tarrales followed by a brief walk around the Finca, which was interrupted by our first rains of the trip.
Unfortunately this otherwise exceptional set of soil conditions has a serious drawback: certain species of roundworms, or nematodes, are quite prevalent, and they love to attack arabica coffee plants. A widely-used solution to this problem is to graft the root of the robusta (C. canephora) coffee plant onto the upper part of the arabica plant. This produces a plant with a sturdy root system more resistant to nematode attack while preserving the superior flavor characteristics of arabica coffee.
The white node midway up the stem of this young shoot is the intersection where the robusta rootstock was grafted onto the arabica plant. This very labor-intensive process is done by carefully slicing the stems of both an arabica and robusta plant and wrapping or bandaging the two together. The plant takes many weeks to re-join and continue growing. The hybridized nursery stock is then planted. As soon as four years later it can start producing arabica coffee cherries.
Night at Los Tarrales Reserve. Ebird list: 1
Wednesday, October 18, 2017: Morning drive to look for Pink-headed Warbler.
Night in Antigua, Posada San Pedro. Ebird list: 1
Thursday, October 19, 2017: Night in Antigua, Posada San Pedro. Ebird list:
Afternoon visit to Cafe Refugio, Choco Museo, Parque Centro, Caffe Opera.
Friday, October 20, 2017: Morning visit to Finca El Pilar with Daniel Schumann, lunch at Cerro San Cristobal.
fternoon at Finca Filadelphia.
Night in Antigua, Posada San Pedro. Ebird list: 1
Saturday, October 21, 2017: Early AM departure from Antigua to Guatemala City. Flight from Guatemala City (departing 06:00AM) to Flores (arriving 07:06AM) on Aviateca (GU7972).
Night in Tikal, Jungle Lodge Hotel. Ebird list:
Sunday, October 22, 2017:
Pool time at the Jungle Lodge Hotel.
Night in Tikal, Jungle Lodge Hotel. Ebird list: 1
Monday, October 23, 2017: Evening flight from Flores (departing at 09:09PM) to Guatemala City (arriving 10:12PM) on Aviateca (GU7973).
Night in Guatemala City, Grand Tikal Futura Hotel. Ebird list: 1
Tuesday, October 24, 2017: Early AM flight home (departing Guatemala City at 07:00AM).
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