The Paddler ezine WW kayak collection 2013 | Page 186

ThePaddler 186

INFORMATION
WEATHER: Guatemala has a tropical climate. Temperatures vary
greatly from area to area because of differences in altitude. The plains
and lowlands have an average yearly temperature of about 80 °F (27
°C), with little seasonal change. Mountain valleys 4,000 to 6,000 feet
(1,200 to 1,800 meters) high are usually comfortably mild. They have a
yearly average temperature of 60 °F to 70 °F (16 °C to 21 °C). The
higher valleys sometimes have frost, and average 40 °F (4 °C). It tends
to rain hard about 4pm for a good few hours in the rainy season (June
to Oct on the Pacific side and Nov to Feb Caribbean side). Make sure
you are off any river prone to flash flooding (jungle runs) by then.

www.mayanwhitewater.com

Guatemala
Google Map

LOCATION: The northernmost of the Central American nations,
Guatemala is the size of Tennessee. Its neighbours are Mexico on the
north and west, and Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador on the east. The
country consists of three main regions—the cool highlands with the
heaviest population, the tropical area along the Pacific and Caribbean
coasts, and the tropical jungle in the northern lowlands (known as the
Petén)

INFRASTRUCTURE: Guatemala is still a developing country
therefore it still doesn’t have full infrastructure in place yet only in
major city’s so a lot of rivers are highly polluted with chemicals, sewage
and rubbish especially the Pacific side. Expect one or two crew
members to go down with sickness and diarrhoea at some stage of
your trip.

FOOD: If it’s good food you want then forget it! Local food is very
bland and uninspiring but the beer is OK about 80 pence-150 bottle.
Cost of hostels and cheap hotels are around £4-8 ($6-12) a night.

GETTING AROUND: Definitely hire a driver for shuttling from a local
hotel if you are a one-car crew cost about £8-10 ($12-15) a day.They will
take you anywhere and pick you up at the other end.Your car will be
safer with them than left next to the river. If exploring a four wheel drive
vehicle is advised especially in the Lanquin area (all dirt roads). Speaking
good Spanish is a must especially crossing borders.You will be stopped a
lot with military checks and police. We found them all OK but have the
right documentation.
GUIDEBOOKS: The entire area is lacking in coverage (hence this
website and my desire to write a guidebook).There is a 2000-edition
guidebook for Mexico called A Gringo's Guide to Mexican Whitewater
by Tom Robey which includes the main jungle rivers in Chiapas. For
Honduras there is a 1997 edition book called Honduras:The
Undiscovered Country by Andrew Hibbard of Ríos Honduras, which
describes 17 rivers (noted on the Honduras river table).
In case you're interested in what others have written about the area's
whitewater, check out this www.mayanwhitewater.com/articles.html.

CONTACT: Contact Greg Schwendinger at
/www.mayanwhitewater.com for his local knowledge to all the
Guatemalan rivers, as his resources are second to none and if you have
any explorations planned he will probably join you. If its serious
expedition style jungle boating you want and you are prepared for some
hard graft then Guatemala has a lot to offer. If not go elsewhere.