Matador Network's Blog, page 613
August 9, 2021
7 last-minute Airbnbs to book for Bonnaroo
Every summer, the 10,000-person population of Manchester, Tennessee, multiplies by 10. This is what happens when you gather 150 of the world’s most popular musicians on a farm halfway between Nashville and Chattanooga for the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. Following last year’s cancellation, Bonnaroo is staging a comeback in 2021 on September 2-5. That means time is running out for festivalgoers to get their accommodations in order. Fortunately, there are still a few great rentals available within an hour of Great Stage Park. Here are seven last-minute Bonnaroo Airbnbs to book if you’re headed to Tennessee next month.
We hope you love the spaces and stays we recommend! Just so you know, Matador may collect a small commission from the links on this page if you decide to book a stay. Listed prices are accurate as of the time of publication. See our full Advertiser Disclosure here.
1. The Honeysuckle House
Photo: Airbnb
This luxe tiny home in Tracy City is an idyllic place to unwind after long, loud, festival-fueled days. Located roughly 35 minutes southeast of Manchester on the I-24, the one-acre lakefront property comes with complimentary kayaks and paddleboards, as well as a fire pit out front where you can wind down at night and reflect on your favorite acts from the day.
Eight guests, one bedroom
Price: $200 per night
Photo: Airbnb
Music festivals are a great excuse to gather a big group of friends and split the cost of an epic Airbnb. Enter this three-bedroom house with unbeatable lake access. It’s just 20 minutes away from Great Stage Park and can sleep up to a dozen guests. Though you may not have time to take advantage of the many outdoor opportunities on your doorstep, including three waterfall hikes, we bet you’ll squeeze in a couple of games of ping pong, foosball, billiards, or basketball.
Twelve guests, three bedrooms
Price: $799 per night
Photo: Airbnb
If you’re the type of festivalgoer who’s hellbent on seeing as many acts as possible, this reasonably priced tiny home roughly 30 minutes away from the festival grounds is the perfect crash pad. What little time you do spend here can be spent enjoying the tranquility of the Deer Lick Falls community on your comfortably furnished patio. Cell service may be limited, but the Wi-Fi is strong, so you’ll have no problem mapping out your daily lineup.
Four guests, one bedroom
Price: $143 per night
Photo: Airbnb
Sleeping up to four guests, this two-bedroom townhouse is a steal if you’re headed to Bonnaroo with a small group. Bonus points if your group enjoys cooking, as the kitchen is fully equipped for DIY meals to keep you energized for the festival. The property is located in a lively area of Murfreesboro, near Middle Tennessee State University and the downtown square, where you’ll also find a handful of brewhouses to keep the fun going outside of Great Stage Park.
Four guests, two bedrooms
Price: $149 per night
Photo: Airbnb
This three-bedroom house in Winchester is another spacious, scenic option suited to groups. It’s on the expensive side but can accommodate six guests and has a large back deck and private dock that make the property feel even more expansive. Better yet, it’s only 30 to 40 minutes from Great Stage Park, so there’s plenty of time to travel back and forth from the festival and enjoy some water sports in your downtime.
Six guests, three bedrooms
Price: $650 per night
Photo: Airbnb
Another luxury tiny home operated by Retreat Vacations, this cabin-style one bedroom is conveniently located in Tracy City. It’s perfect for a couple but can sleep four comfortably between the main bedroom and a second queen bed in the loft space. With miles of surrounding woodland and a prime waterfront location, this brand-new property is a wealth of outdoor recreation should you end up wanting a break from the Bonnaroo crowds.
Four guests, one bedroom
Price: $193 per night
Photo: Airbnb
A short walk from downtown Murfreesboro, roughly 30 minutes north of Manchester on the I-24, this three-bedroom estate built in 1847 is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The cozy yet grand interior is artfully decorated but it’s the garden, verandas, and patio that really sell the charm. Guests can rent individual rooms or book the entire property.
Nine guests, three bedrooms
Price: $675 per night 
The post 7 last-minute Airbnbs to book for Bonnaroo appeared first on Matador Network.
A non-planner’s guide to #vanlife: 8 essential tips for a spontaneous campervan trip
Twenty-four hours before my first campervan trip, the only thing I had planned was where to pick up the van. I’d be flying into Las Vegas from San Francisco, collecting a Kuga Campervan from the Travellers Autobarn location off The Strip, and driving east toward Zion National Park, where my friend and I intended to kick off a weeklong road trip through southern Utah.
Twenty-four hours into the trip, our sink sprung a leak, and our demountable table broke, requiring the services of a welder when we reached the town of Escalante. This was one of several hiccups no amount of planning could have preempted.
For spontaneous travelers, #vanlife trips provide a level of freedom that’s unparalleled. You can go anywhere your four wheels will take you, your lodging and basic amenities are built-in, and you can piece together an itinerary around your favorite activities. There are, however, a few realities of vanlife that are worth preparing for in advance.
From one non-planner to another, here are eight van travel tips from an impromptu trip through the Utah desert that’ll help get you hooked on the unfettered vanlife forever.
1. Don’t book campsites. Do download apps.
Photo: Alex Bresler
Figuring out where to sleep each night is one of the biggest obstacles spontaneous campervan travelers face. Last-minute campgrounds can be hard to find, fully booked, or prohibitively expensive. Thankfully not all campsites require reservations.
Dispersed camping describes camping outside of an established campground. This is permitted on most public lands managed by the US Forest Service (USFS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Some national and state parks also allow dispersed camping in certain wilderness areas. The rules for selecting a dispersed campsite vary depending on your destination but are generally as follows: Travelers may camp permit- and cost-free at a given site for up to 14 days within a 30-day period provided it’s at least 150 feet from a main road, 100 feet from a stream, and one mile from any designated campgrounds.
Included in our Travellers Autobarn rental was a 90-day free subscription to The Dyrt, a campsite locator service that allows users to filter their search by free sites. This not only helped us find dispersed campsites a stone’s throw from popular national parks such as Zion and Bryce Canyon during peak season, but it also saved us the trouble of attempting any off-roading that our van was not equipped to do. Because most national forests and monuments like Escalante-Grand Staircase are managed by the USFS or BLM, these areas provided us with the greatest number of options and near-total privacy everywhere we parked.
Other resources campervan travelers can use to find dispersed campsites include FreeRoam, iOverlander, and Campendium. More information on camping in specific wilderness areas can be referenced directly on the USFS, BLM, and National Park Service websites.
2. Pack a tent and a tarp, just in case.
Photo: Philip Lange/Shutterstock
Campervans are mobile shelters, rendering tent camping redundant. Nonetheless, there may still be situations in which you’ll appreciate having a tent on hand. Some of the prettiest campsites we discovered required high ground clearance, four-wheel drive, and premium maneuverability. Depending on your van, rugged terrain and narrow roads could be obstacles in claiming ideal campsites that are otherwise accessible on foot. Even in wide-open areas, a tent can offer a reprieve from sleeping in a stuffy van on 100°F summer nights.
Having a tarp nearby is helpful in these situations. It can offer added protection from the elements, be it sun or rain, as well as prevent wear and tear on your tent. For vanlifers, tarps can also be used as makeshift shower curtains, changing stations, picnic blankets, and sleeping bag or duvet buffers if you want to lay out under the stars. Whether you end up using it or not, a tarp is one cheap, compact, multi-use tool that’s always worth loading into your van.
3. Always decide where you’re sleeping before nightfall.
Photo: sylv1rob1/Shutterstock
While campervan trips afford travelers the flexibility to decide where they want to go on a whim, aim to choose your nightly campsites before dusk. In unfamiliar areas, daylight is invaluable for scoping out the terrain, heeding any signage, and setting your camp up safely. Because you’ll most likely be relying on apps and websites to find your campsites, getting a headstart on your search also ensures you’ll have enough cell service or WiFi to find your best option and download offline maps to navigate off-grid areas later on.
Nightfall is less problematic for vanlifers who stick to cities where they can try stealth camping, such as sleeping at a truck stop or in the parking lot of a Walmart, Home Depot, or 24-hour business. You’ll still want to know where these stealth campsites are located lest you end up driving all night in search of one. Beyond finding overnight parking that’s unlikely to get you towed or fined, many cities also have laws about sleeping in your vehicle, so be sure to brush up on what is and is not allowed before settling in for the night in an urban area.
4. Dromedary bags are your best friend.
Photo: BublikHaus/Shutterstock
On the road, like anywhere else, water is a vital resource. You need it to stay hydrated, clean, and cool. Even if your campervan comes with running water, that water may not be potable, and your sink will likely be too small to wash much more than dishes. Though vanlifers have discovered many creative ways of keeping themselves and their clothes clean, such as taking advantage of gym passes and laundromats if they’re passing through cities, dispersed campers may not have access to these amenities. Then there’s the issue of plastic waste when it comes to stockpiling your van with store-bought gallons. Enter Dromedary bags.
A Dromedary bag is a hydration bladder similar to a Camelbak, though the largest Dromedary can hold up to 10 liters of water compared to the largest Camelbak’s three liters. Dromedaries are also outfitted with a hanging strap and three-in-one cap that can release both small and large streams, and they can be easily refilled wherever you might top up a water bottle or your van’s water tank. While our Camelbaks were convenient on long, sweltering hikes, our Dromedary was essential, from serving as a water storage system to acting like a faucet before we were able to find the necessary part to fix our sink. It even functioned as a shower we could hang from a tree branch or the back of our van. After all, wet wipes only go so far.
5. If you can, have a high-quality cooler on hand.
Photo: oksana.perkins/Shutterstock
After a lifetime preparing backcountry meals with basic camping cookware, venturing into the wilderness with a kitchen in tow was a luxury. Our campervan came outfitted with a two-burner gas stove, a solar-powered mini fridge and freezer unit, a small sink, and a microwave for when the van was plugged into a power source. For an additional fee, Travellers Autobarn also provides cooking essentials such as pots and pans, cutlery, and a kettle.
To avoid unnecessary detours and keep our journey as flexible as possible, my friend and I endeavored to make just one grocery run on the first day of our trip. We loaded our pantries with a modest array of spices, condiments, dry goods, and resealable snacks, and we stocked our fridge with long-lasting produce and proteins such as apples, carrots, celery, eggs, and marinated tofu. A few bags of frozen vegetables, a couple of chicken breasts, and a box of veggie burgers just barely fit in the freezer. A few days later our fridge malfunctioned.
Though we were able to meal-plan around any serious spoilage, I found myself wishing we’d brought a cooler on multiple occasions, whether to use as a backup refrigeration unit, cool extra beverages, or simply store loose items while driving. The few coolers we saw on sale at gas stations and country marts mid-trip were made of styrofoam, which are not only less effective but also less sustainable than insulated coolers.
Good-quality coolers can be expensive, but if you plan on making frequent campervan trips, they’re worth the investment. Space is another consideration, though there are enough hard and soft coolers in various shapes and sizes on the market to suit almost any campervan setup. And even if it’s not being used to keep food and drinks fresh, well, what is a cooler if not additional, road-secure, easily organized storage space.
6. Keep an eye on gas prices.
Photo: OleksiyGS/Shutterstock
Gas is expensive, and campervans have big tanks. Fueling up is easily one of the biggest expenses vanlifers can expect to incur on their journeys. While spontaneous travelers may not know where they’re going to be from one day to the next, they can still try to keep costs low. One way to do this is to let favorable gas prices decide when you should fuel up, not the emptiness of your tank. Google Maps can also help. Often, the price per gallon is listed when you search for nearby gas stations, and the difference between neighboring stations can be significant. A 50-cent disparity may not seem like much when you’re looking at the map, but if your tank holds roughly 26 gallons, those savings will start to add up quickly.
7. Stock up on beer, even if you don’t drink.
Photo: Dean Drobot/Shutterstock
In a campervan, all the most useful gear serves multiple purposes. In the kitchen, for example, an eight-quart pot can be used as a saucepan, a skillet, a kettle, and a mixing or serving bowl, as well as an empty vessel to keep other items tidy when they’re not in use.
Beer is not the first thing that comes to mind when we think of gear. Sure, cracking open a cold one after a long drive or hike is a simple pleasure for those who drink, yet even for those who abstain, beer can be handy if you’re comfortable keeping it around. It can be used to tenderize meat, which is wont to get overcooked on a propane stove. One of our favorite dinners was the result of a half-drunk Modelo Chelada Tamarindo Picante, which we repurposed to marinade chicken in lieu of buying spices we would hardly put a dent in. Resourceful chefs can also use tasty craft beer as a simmering liquid, the base for a sauce, or a flavoring agent for one-pot meals such as chili. Because it’s yeasted, bakers can even whip up simple bread using beer.
Carbonation and acidity are two more boons. On one occasion, I used beer to remove rust from metal utensils, letting them soak as the bubbles broke down the unwanted oxidation. I’ve also used beer to put out campfires without depleting my water supply, as the alcohol content in most brews is not high enough to catch fire. Though I’ve not tried these hacks myself, I’ve even heard of people using beer to shampoo their hair or soak their feet after long hikes. Odd? Maybe. But people pay good money at beer spas, and we could all use a little pampering on the road.
8. When in doubt, stop at an RV park.
Photo: Skatie Designs/Shutterstock
Long before #vanlife started trending on Instagram, RV travel was a way of life. This explains why there are RV parks located near so many of the most popular national parks and attractions. For campervan travelers, these outposts are an invaluable resource. The staff, and many of the patrons, are well-versed in the road-trip lifestyle and generally happy to give directions, answer questions, and offer help. Unless an RV park is full, campervan travelers may also be welcome to plug in, empty or fill their water tanks, and even spend the night.
On the one occasion we were turned away from an RV park because there was no water refill station available, the attendant directed us to a small state park down the road. We had to pay a modest fee for a day pass, which gave us access to all the basic amenities we had forgone in our week of dispersed camping. We dumped our gray water, topped up our tank, refilled our Dromedary and Camelbaks, and even stayed for a spontaneous lake SUP session. Unlike big-name national parks, smaller city, county, state, and regional parks are a cheap, uncrowded, and stress-free wealth of resources and recreation.
Knowing when and where to ask for help is one of the best things campervan travelers can do to ensure they have the safe and responsible journeys of a lifetime. Strike the right balance between being prepared and keeping your plans loose, and there’s nothing better than hitting the open road with nothing but your van, a little travel savvy, and an appetite for adventure.
The post A non-planner’s guide to #vanlife: 8 essential tips for a spontaneous campervan trip appeared first on Matador Network.
American traveler denied medical evacuation after accident left her comatose in Bali
American travel blogger Kaitlyn McCaffrey is currently stranded in a Balinese hospital after sustaining a traumatic brain injury in a scooter accident on July 31. The accident left McCaffrey comatose, and her international medical insurance provider has reportedly refused to cover the necessary costs to evacuate her for treatment in the United States.
According to a GoFundMe page created by a friend of the McCaffrey family, “The costs to evacuate [Kaitlyn] using an experienced medevac company, such as Air Med or International SOS, are extremely daunting. Due to the distance and COVID-related border closures, it is estimated that the cost will be approximately $250,000 US dollars.”
The GoFundMe page, which has accrued over $240,000 at the time of writing, also notes that Balinese authorities have denied the family’s requests to be issued emergency visas to visit McCaffrey at her hospital in Denpasar, the Balinese capital, citing the ongoing pandemic.
A video update uploaded to YouTube earlier today by Bob Stolebarger, whose wife Dena Cruz created the GoFundMe page, reiterated the need for McCaffrey’s relocation. Though the lawyer and family friend acknowledges that she’s “receiving all the care the Bali hospital can provide,” Stolebarger describes McCaffrey’s condition as “critical” yet “stable” and states that she “desperately needs a medical evacuation to a hospital in Northern California where she can receive the level of care necessary.”
The McCaffreys have already found a major trauma hospital in Northern California, where Kaitlyn was raised, that can treat her if the family is able to have her medically evacuated.
Though the situation remains tense, the McCaffreys have expressed their gratitude to everyone who has donated to Kaitlyn’s GoFundMe, as well as to the young men who found her “alone, unconscious, broken, and bleeding” following her horrific scooter accident.
“Without their help,” the page reads, “she surely would have died.”
The post American traveler denied medical evacuation after accident left her comatose in Bali appeared first on Matador Network.
This artist lends a voice to those who are less heard, and the results are stunning
If you find yourself in downtown Quito, Ecuador, there’s a good chance you’ll see a very large mural proudly illuminating the side of a tall, multi-floor apartment building — standing out in bright contrast to the muted colors of the city.
It’s an arresting image of a plant soaring towards a massive moon. An Indigenous girl reaches out as the seeds of precious corn plants fall beyond her reach, while a leaf pours the countryside’s water down to a thirsty city. At the base of the mural are distinctive Indigenous women standing among the plants and their mighty roots.
The mural is the work of Ecuadorian artist Raúl Ayala and Mona Caron — a Swiss-American artist whose work champions the people and plants that society passes by.
The resilience of weeds
Photo: Mona Caron
For years, Caron focused on the super-micro details of her adopted home in San Francisco, which is where I first met her — a short while after she’d first returned from Quito. By that point Caron had painted on several continents.
Caron’s earliest works in San Francisco focused on detailing life in a particular neighborhood, paying attention to the details — and, critically, people — that others overlooked. It was during the months-long creation of a mural in SF’s Tenderloin district that the seeds of Caron’s international work were sown.
“It was probably the longest project I’ve ever done, over a year. I portrayed like 300 real people in the neighborhood,” says Caron. “And while I was doing that, I was noticing these dandelions and plants growing at the base of the wall. And I kept noticing that people will periodically come around and just destroy them in this act of ‘cleaning up.’”
That absurdity struck Caron, who says that she worked surrounded by dirt during that time. “You’re in a place where there’s tons of dirt of all kinds,” she says. “But for some reasons, it struck me how people will go out of their way to identify that as dirt.”
What was more impressive, though, was that the removed weeds would always grow back. To Caron, those cracks emerging through the sidewalk symbolized the perseverance of the people she was profiling in her work.
“The way they keep coming back is actually the same thing I’m trying to illustrate in my murals there, which are about the resilience of people that are living in less than privileged conditions,” says Caron. “It occurred to me that these urban plants were a total metaphor for that.”
Taking the message global
Photo: Mona Caron
Inspired by the ability of the plants to keep coming back, despite efforts to remove them, Caron decided to create a frame-by-frame animation of a dandelion getting cut down and rising again. As Caron makes clear, the animations were her way of showing the act of reemergence, rather than, say, a commentary about invasive plants.
She posted her video on YouTube, where at the time she says she had just 17 followers. She was surprised then to find that it received 10,000 views, then double that number, then soon over 100,000 views.
Caron was startled at the reaction. “I started getting emails from all over the world saying, ‘We get your message. We are weeds too.’ And like, ‘This resonates with me.’”
One email from Baghdad showed pictures of plants growing there. Other messages came from Thailand, Russia, and elsewhere. Caron says she realized that these plants were a universal theme that transcended national languages.
Invitations to paint weeds decorating buildings or walls soon followed, the first one from a group in Brazil who told her they were seeking to thrive in the way that Caron’s weed had.
“We keep getting stepped on. But we’ll never give up. Come here and paint a huge weed in the Minhocão in São Paulo,” says Caron. “And so, I did a 13-story tall weed there.”
And the requests kept coming. “And all of a sudden I went from the hyperlocal, 10 years of being super, super local — with murals about not San Francisco, but a specific city block — to being global,” says Caron.
The Indigenous women of Quito
Photo: Mona Caron
One of the most impactful of those global works was the mural in Quito — worth highlighting today, World Indigenous People’s Day — which occurs annually on August 9.
Caron got to know Raúl Ayala through activist work like the 2014 NYC Climate Conference, for which they painted banners in a Brooklyn warehouse. Later, Ayala was distressed by the “hypocrisy” of his home government leasing off Indigenous land to foreing mining and petroleum interests — and then offering to host a UN Conference on sustainable development.
Ayala hoped to organize a protest at the conference, but was informed that the conference would occur in a “green zone” that barred activists. After negotiating with conference organizers, Ayal was granted a wall to paint a mural within the green zone instead. And what a wall it was.
When Ayala sent Caron a photo of the proposed location for the artwork, she says she was shocked at its size. But Ayala was insistent.
“‘Can you believe they gave permission? We’ve got to take it, we’ve got to do it,’” Caron recalls Ayala telling her. The wall was in between the hotels and the conference center — making it perhaps the most visible wall in the green zone. Caron agreed.
To better understand their grievances and to tell their story, Caron interviewed specific Indigenous groups — six in the Amazon and three in the Andes — who were fighting to protect their lands and biodiversity. While the Amazonian women were fighting off mining and oil interests, the Andean women were trying to protect their dozens of native corn species from the monolithic, sterile seeds of the Monsanto Corporation.
Caron asked them about images that could serve as metaphors of their struggles, perhaps in the same way that a re-emerging weed illustrates the resilience of the oppressed. But those she interviewed had other ideas, insisting she portrays the very Indigenous women who had been waging these battles, sometimes for decades.
This created a dilemma for Caron. “They insisted on having these specific persons in it. I said, ‘I cannot possibly, as a White woman, paint portraits of you,’” Caron recalls.
She came up with a solution, asking the women to travel to Quito to paint their own traditional face markings. It was a pretty brilliant idea — given that the women came and participated in the project while the conference was taking place.
Voices that need to be heard
Photo: Mona Caron
Journalists passing by the mural on the way to the conference noticed the women at work, painting. They’d stop to inquire what was going on, hoping to speak to Ayala or Caron.
“No, talk to the women. These are the women in the mural. They will explain the mural to you. They will explain what this means,” Caron said she told the journalists. “And then, literally, we gave them a platform. Literally, they were on the platform, talking to the journalists about what is happening in their land.”
Although the struggle in Ecuador, as in other Indigenous lands, is ongoing, there’s no doubt about the visibility granted by the Mujeres (women) mural. We’d like to think it had a role to play in a July 2020 ruling by Ecuador’s high court stating that Indigenous peoples should have sovereignty over their ancestral lands and should be consulted on decisions that could affect them and their lands.
Caron has continued to elevate the voices that need to be heard. She completed another project in São Paulo last spring, in an area called the “Marginal,” which she says is very much on the margins of society — a location most people from the center of the city have never visited. Painted along with artist Mauro Neri, the mural depicts a strong young woman holding a sailboat, and symbolizes how the community there has taken control of the lake by their homes and made it theirs.
And just last week, Caron put the finishing touches on a mural of a native wild plant called the Joe Pye weed in Jersey City, New Jersey. It’ll be visible across the Hudson from New York City, but it’s worth getting up close to check it out. As Caron wrote in her Instagram post about it, the mural represents, “A dream of Nature winning, of plant life being the one towering over us for a change, putting us back in our place.”
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9 San Antonio Airbnbs within walking distance of everything on the Riverwalk
Visiting San Antonio is all about staying close to the Riverwalk. From here, you can easily access the city’s top restaurants, bars, conference and sports venues, and even the Alamo. These are the best San Antonio Airbnbs to put you right where you want to be in the city, with plenty of comfort and amenities to boot.
1. Remodeled industrial loft in Southtown
Photo: Airbnb
Like many US cities, San Antonio’s warehouse districts and neighborhoods surrounding downtown have undergone rapid transformation in recent years. This chic minimalist loft in a former timber warehouse is exemplary of that. The unit is designed for remote workers and long-term stays, so you know it’s comfortable and equipped even if you’re only here for a couple of nights. The host drew inspiration for the decor from his time in Korea, and as an added bonus, the unit comes with parking for up to two cars.
Two guests, one bedroom
Price: $145 per night
Photo: Airbnb
Stay in this house downtown and enjoy amenities including a hot tub, cornhole, and a patio reminiscent of your favorite neighborhood brewpub. Downtown San Antonio Airbnbs are rarely this well-trimmed. Your crew will be within one mile of the Alamo, the Riverwalk, and the Pearl, with nightlife, dining, and the sights of downtown all within walking distance. If traveling with a medium-sized group where you need space and activities, but also plan to go out, this is the spot.
Six guests, two bedrooms
Price: $180 per night
Photo: Airbnb
This historic home looks darn good considering its 115-year age. That’s because it has been completely redone into the fashion of an architect’s dream. Vaulted ceilings, spacious open floor plan, and modern trimmings open out onto San Antonio’s historic King William neighborhood. You’re residentially located, but still within easy access to the Riverwalk and the rest of the city in this high-end San Antonio Airbnb perfect for groups.
Ten guests, three bedrooms
Price: $382 per night
Photo: Airbnb
This six-bedroom luxury home has earned its stripes among the best San Antonio Airbnbs for large groups and get-togethers. It’s set up for success with a hot tub, cornhole, bistro lighting, and outdoor living room. Indoors, the house is the stuff of legend with dueling living room TVs, spacious kitchen and living areas, and six perfectly equipped bedrooms that can easily host everything from a work retreat to a raucous reunion.
Sixteen guests, six bedrooms
Price: $670 per night
Photo: Airbnb
Gaze out at the Tower of the Americas while relaxing over a poolside cocktail. Lounge in a spacious living room, or prepare a homecooked meal for your partner for a date night in (such a rare occurrence when traveling). The nice thing about this downtown San Antonio Airbnb is that it gives you the best of both worlds of hospitality — the amenities and comfort of a luxury two-bedroom apartment with the convenience and functionality of a resort hotel. There are multiple units available, so scheduling and booking are less of an issue. If you want to live as San Antonio’s urbanites do, this apartment is the perfect option.
Eight guests, two bedrooms
Price: $311 per night
Photo: Airbnb
Many of the best San Antonio Airbnbs are near to the Riverwalk, downtown, and the Alamo. This one is literally a few paces away. You can stroll the river, stop for dinner and drinks, and take in a historical knowledge bomb, all without breaking a sweat (at least not due to physical exertion). Lavaca gives you easy access to the entire city, from King William to the ever-cool La Villita Arts Village. With room for 12 guests and an entire house to call your own, you can also enjoy the comforts of seclusion, if you so choose.
Twelve guests, five bedrooms
Price: $448 per night
Photo: Airbnb
aSan Antonio’s multicultural vibes shine bright at this riverside condo. The unit itself is comfortable and equipped for remote work, home cooking, and easy access to all points of the city. And the charm of being right above the Riverwalk and all it has to offer makes this a unit that you’ll have a hard time not re-booking each time you come to San Antonio.
Six guests, two bedrooms
Price: $349 per night
Photo: Airbnb
Among San Antonio’s biggest perks is that you can stay in a residential home in the heart of the urban oasis — it’s not a condo-or-bust type of place. This home speaks well to this fact. A luxuriously maintained historic home in the heart of the city, you’ll have walkable access to the Riverwalk, downtown, and the city’s hippest neighborhoods, dining, and nightlife. The Tower of Americas will provide your morning coffee view — not a bad way to toast a new day in San Antonio.
Six guests, three bedrooms
Price: $420 per night
Photo: Airbnb
Accomplishing the counter-point of historical modernity is no simple task. The owners of this historical San Antonio home have pulled it off and created the perfect apartment rental for a couple or solo traveler to enjoy while visiting the city. The unit overlooks the river and provides a unique perspective on historical San Antonio — it’s located in the middle of it and has been through it all, yet somehow feels slightly elevated from the action. A truly rare find.
Two guests, one bedroom
Price: $108 per night
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These are the top 10 airports in the world for 2021
Skytrax has announced the ranking for the world’s top airports in 2021, and for the first time in nearly a decade, there’s a new airport claiming the number one spot. This year, Hamad International Airport in Qatar beat Singapore’s Changi Airport.
Qatar Airways also beat Singapore Airlines in the ranking of the world’s top airlines in the world for 2021, taking first place and pushing Singapore down to third,
The world’s top airport ranking was done via a survey during which airport customers from around the world voted. The survey took place from August 2020 through July 2021. There were 500 airports featured in the survey results, and over 100 customer nationalities participated.
According to Skytrax, the survey evaluates travelers’ experiences across airports for services like check-in, arrivals, transfers, shopping, security, and immigration. The survey also included a specific COVID-19 section.
The world’s top 10 airports according to Skytrax’s survey:
Hamad International Airport, QatarTokyo Haneda International Airport, JapanSingapore Changi Airport, SingaporeIncheon International Airport, South KoreaTokyo Narita Airport, JapanMunich Airport, GermanyZurich Airport, Switzerland Heathrow Airport, England Kansai International Airport, JapanHong Kong International Airport, Hong KongThe first US airport to make it on the list of the world’s top 100 airports is Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport at #25. Vancouver International Airport ranks at #24, making it the top airport in North America.
For the full list of this year’s winners and other things like the world’s best airport staff, the world’s cleanest airport, or the world’s best airport security, visit Skytrax’s website.
The post These are the top 10 airports in the world for 2021 appeared first on Matador Network.
August 6, 2021
The US ranks second in the world for skinny dipping
Skinny dipping might sound like great fun for some and uninteresting — or entirely inappropriate — to others. But if you’re comfortable being in the buff, it could be helpful to know where you can have your buns out as summer rages on. Outdoor recreation site Outforia conducted a study to determine which countries around the world have the best skinny dipping spots and each country’s comfort level with skinny dipping. The United States came in second in the global rankings, and the study was ripe with other interesting findings.
Outforia’s study only looked at countries where skinny dipping is at least partially legal. The countries were judged in four categories out of 10: number of nudist beaches, number of naturist campsites, average annual temperature, and average water temperature. The final ranking is decided on the average between all four categories.
The number one spot for letting it all hang out was France, with a final score of 7.04. The country has over 600 places where it’s totally acceptable to walk around nude, including Village Naturiste in Cap d’Age, where clothing is not required at all. The average temperature year-round is 51.3 degrees Fahrenheit, while the water temperature averages 60.5.
It may or may not surprise you that the US comes in second with a final score of 6.95, offering 295 beaches, and comes in first for having 253 naturist campsites. The average annual temperature is a bit frosty here at 47.4 degrees but the water temperature averages 62.4.
Spain takes third place in the top three with a score of 6.52. It has the most nude beaches in the world at 422 but less than 100 naturist campsites. The right to be nude is very legal, which also helped the country’s rank. It’s even written in the country’s constitution. The temperature averages at 55.9 degrees and the water is pretty warm at 64.2.
Thailand was shouted out for having the warmest temperature and water for people to swim in, reaching 79.3 degrees with a water temperature of 84.3. Great vacation spots like the Bahamas, St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, and the Maldives might have great beaches but don’t expect to be going topless on them anytime soon.
The post The US ranks second in the world for skinny dipping appeared first on Matador Network.
Watch: There’s an underwater elevator in the Baltic Sea and anyone can ride it
If you’re curious to know what goes on under the surface of the ocean, you could scuba dive, but that just might not be as cool as an underwater elevator. On the northeast coast of Germany, on the Baltic Sea, there are four underwater elevators (also called underwater gondolas or Tauchgondel in German) that are meant to take tourists on the ride of a lifetime.
Built in 2009, these unique-looking, 50-ton underwater elevators take visitors below the surface of the Baltic Sea. YouTuber Tom Scott went for a ride and met with Rüdiger Zitz, one of the crew members in charge of the underwater elevators.
The Tauchgondel works like an elevator. You climb in, and after the press of a few buttons, it sinks to the bottom of the ocean floor. The sound of the waves engulfs the room and the light turns a shade of green — the same color as the water right outside. The water in the Baltic Sea isn’t very clear so don’t expect to see whales and fish from the window, but it’s still fun to take a peek at what goes on under the surface of the ocean.
Scott asks Zitz about the safety precautions that must be taken to ensure passengers won’t get stuck or if there’s a leak anywhere. He explains that the gondola uses two motors, and by releasing the holding brake, the gondola will quickly shoot back up to the surface. If that doesn’t work, there are two emergency exits so passengers can end up back on the pier. Also, there’s fresh air ventilation coming at all times in the underwater elevator (it’s not pressurized like in a submarine) and the windows are 2.3-inches thick and made of several layers of safety glass.
Eventually, you might see the Tauchgondel pop up in places where the water is a bit clearer, like the Caribbean, Greece, or even the Maldives, but Zitz said that each one would have to be one-of-a-kind to accommodate the different locations.
The post Watch: There’s an underwater elevator in the Baltic Sea and anyone can ride it appeared first on Matador Network.
The ultimate week in Guatemala’s Lake Atitlán, from sunrise hikes and cliff jumping to cacao tasting
Guatemala is known for its rich indigenous culture, scenic mountainous countryside, and its many volcanoes (37 exactly, the most of any Central American country) and you can experience all that makes the nation famous in one place: Lake Atitlán. The volcanic lake is situated in the Guatemalan Highlands among the Sierra Madre Mountain Range and surrounded by three volcanoes: San Pedro, Atitlán, and Tomlimán. Bright blue waters lap onto the shores of traditional Mayan villages that line the lake. Although remote and rural, Lake Atitlán packs a punch for travelers eager to tackle sunrise hikes, scoop up Mayan textiles, immerse in Guatemalan culture, and spend time in nature.
Before you go, it’s good to get your bearings with the lakeside villages so you can choose the area that’s best for you to stay. San Pedro La Laguna is the liveliest village with the largest number of backpackers, bars, and hostels; San Marcos La Laguna is the hippie haven stacked with yoga studios, holistic centers, and wellness workshops; San Juan La Laguna is a cultural hub that blends traditional Mayan life with enough restaurants, shops, and tour agencies to keep travelers in the loop; and Panajachel is the bustling market hub that welcomes the daily influx of travelers and local tourists.
Don’t worry too much if you’re unsure of where to stay — boats run constantly between all the villages, making travel between all the lakeside communities very easy. Choose your home base and gear up for a week of adventure, culture, and never-ending scenery in Guatemala’s Lake Atitlán.
Day one – Cliff jumping
Photo: Fiona Mokry and Matyas Rehak/Shutterstock
From wherever you chose to stay, hop a boat over to San Marcos to kick off your day in Cerro Tzankujil Nature Reserve. The protected hilly expanse is only a 10-minute walk from the San Marcos’ pier and commands a small entrance fee of 15 Quetzales (about 2 USD). Once inside, walk the pebbly paths along the water to find uninterrupted views of the surrounding volcanoes. Trek upward to the Mayan altar, a circular mound of stones upon which candles are burned, situated at the highest point in the preserve. Carry on deeper into the reserve to a high wooden platform suspended roughly 50 feet above the lake. If you dare, take a running start and launch off the platform into the crystal-clear water below. You’ll probably have some fellow travelers sitting on the nearby rocks, cheering you on and watching the show. After you overcome your first-jump jitters, you’ll be lining up to do it again.
Part of Cerro Tzankujil’s appeal is its lack of development and infrastructure. After you get your adrenaline fix, find a peaceful spot to take in the endless mountain views while you sprawl out on a sunbaked rock.
Day two – Sunrise hike up Indian Nose
Photo: Fiona Mokry
Catch the sunrise from Indian Nose (La Nariz del Indio), sometimes referred to as Mayan Face (El Rostro Maya), a rocky perch with face-like characteristics and the highest point in Lake Atitlán. While the 3:00 AM wake-up call is rough, you won’t regret it once you reach the lookout point. Since the majority of this excursion takes place in the dark, it’s advised that you book this trip through one of the travel agencies in any of the villages. They provide transportation to the trailhead in Santa Clara and a local guide to lead the way up the cliffs. While Guatemala is a relatively safe country to visit, petty theft does occur sometimes and tourists are warned against walking alone between the villages — especially at night.
The hike to Indian Nose takes between 30 and 45 minutes. You’ll likely hear and see other groups of people as you get closer to the top. After you summit, find the perfect vantage point along the cliff edge or settle into a spot on the simple, two-story wooden platform. Coffee and pastries are passed around by the local guides while everyone waits patiently for the sun to peak over the horizon. Lake Atitlán becomes more and more visible as the sun spills over the lake, and the three iconic volcanoes stand in stark contrast against the pale sky. Daylight finally breaks and reveals perfect panoramas of the striking landscape and many of the lakeside villages. There’s no better way to start the day.
Day three – Co-op hop
Photo: Fiona Mokry
Lake Atitlán is the center for women weaving co-ops and coffee co-ops. Don’t pass up the chance to visit, take a free tour, and watch demonstrations of how the products are cultivated.
Traditional textiles are sold all over Guatemala, and Lake Atitlán is the source that supplies many of the markets and shops throughout the country. Swing by Atitlán Women Weavers in San Pedro and admire all the handmade scarves, blankets, bags, and clothing. Watch as the weavers perform a free, 20-minute demonstration of how they harvest the cotton, prepare the thread, naturally dye it with color derived from plants and tree bark, and use a backstrap loom to weave beautiful, sustainable textiles. After a morning in San Pedro, take a 10-minute boat ride to San Juan (costing roughly $2) to visit another weaving co-op, Casa Flor Ixcaco. Here you’ll find a different selection of handwoven goods and meet some of the talented weavers.
Continue the co-op hop and check out La Voz Coffee Co-op (Cooperativa la Voz que Clama en el Desierto), also in San Juan. Established by 20 farmers in 1977, the coffee farm and production center sits on the outskirts of the village. Tour the co-op, see how the coffee plants are organically-grown and harvested, and learn about the farmers’ mission to uphold sustainable production. End the tour with a visit to the on-site café for a cup of La Voz’s finest brew.
Day four – Day trip to Chichicastenango Market
Photo: Laura G.Robe/Shutterstock
Despite its location in a small, rural town, the Chichicastenango Market (also known as “Chichi Market”) is one of the biggest in Central America. It’s a two-hour drive from Lake Atitlán, but it’s worth the trip to get your hands on the country’s biggest selection of high-quality handicrafts, textiles, wood carvings, pottery, and jewelry. Chichicastenango has been a trade center for hundreds of years, eventually morphing into a melting pot of vendors from different ethnic groups.
Every Thursday and Sunday hundreds of vendors set up shop around the town’s central plaza and put on a truly impressive display. It’s the perfect place to shop for some souvenirs. Locals also frequent the market to pick up fresh produce, animal products, household necessities, and toys, so take the time to wander around and observe the daily life and local customs in rural Guatemala. Cap the day with a visit to Santo Tomás, the 16th century church in the center of the plaza and a revered Mayan heritage site still used today.
Day five – Kayak Lake Atitlán
Photo: Simon Dannhauer/Shutterstock
You can admire the beauty of Lake Atitlán from a variety of places (restaurant decks, waterfront bars, boat dock), but nothing beats paddling out on the water and admiring a 360-degrees view of the volcanoes, rolling green hills, and sparkling blue water. Kayak rentals are available in most of the villages, and Mayan Dynasty Tours in San Juan and Maya Travel in San Pedro both offer guided tours. If you find yourself in San Marcos, you can take advantage of the kayak rentals at the entrance of Cerro Tzankujil Nature Reserve. Keep your eyes peeled for local fishermen casting their nets and hauling in the day’s catch.
Day six – Spa Day
Photo: The Yoga Forest
A number of yogi expats and holistic practitioners have transformed San Marcos la Laguna into some sort of spiritual center, and there’s no better place to relax. Start the day with a waterfront massage at East West Center, an unassuming holistic spa in a peaceful nook off San Marcos’ main drag. Check out their health store on your way out, stocked with all kinds of all-natural, oil-infused creams.
In the afternoon, wander up to The Yoga Forest, a premier retreat center perched high above San Marcos with prime views of Lake Atitlán. The 25-minute trek is worth it for the views alone, but a guided meditation session followed by a Vinyasa or Restorative Yin Flow class is the cherry on top. Further the experience with a traditional ceremony; discover the power of Ceremonial Cacao (AKA “The Food of the Gods”), or cleanse your body and soul with a Temazcal Ceremony, an ancient Mayan steam bath. The Yoga Forest also offers climbing courses and SUP expeditions around the lake if yoga and meditation aren’t your thing.
Day seven – Treat your tastebuds and indulge in culture
Photo: Fiona Mokry
Spend some quality time in San Juan on your last day. It’s one of the smaller and less-frequented villages around the lake, but the authentic food and cultural activities can fill a whole day. First, fill your belly at Restaurante Xe Kuku’ Aab’aj, an humble eatery with a rooftop deck overlooking the water. They serve the best ceviche and chicken pepián in Lake Atitlán — at local prices. After a savory meal, satisfy your sweet tooth and learn the significance of cacao in Mayan culture at Licor Marrón Chocolate. Watch artisans transform cacao into chocolate (or reserve a spot for the hands-on workshop and make your own) and then sample a traditional hot chocolate, the preferred method of chocolate consumption in Guatemala. Thought to have descended from the gods, cacao is a popular and highly regarded food throughout the country. It comes in many forms, from steamy liquid to solid spiced bars. After the cacao lesson, pick up some bars of homemade chocolate spiked with chili, cardamom, and ginger and a few ‘cacao bombs’ — small cubes of pressed cacao — to recreate your own hot chocolate at home just by adding hot milk.
The art of food is just one of San Juan’s attractions. Residents also showcase their talents with depictions of Mayan history and ancestral traditions through murals and paintings. With the spare time you have left, wander around San Juan and admire the wall murals, or pop into a few of the art galleries scattered throughout the village. Learn more about indigenous Tz’utujil beliefs and how it translates into art by taking a workshop from any one of the studios. Before you leave San Juan, end the day with a quick 15-minute jaunt up to El Cerro de la Cruz — the highest point overlooking San Juan — to take in one last lake landscape before your trip comes to a close.
The post The ultimate week in Guatemala’s Lake Atitlán, from sunrise hikes and cliff jumping to cacao tasting appeared first on Matador Network.
The ultimate week in Guatémala’s Lake Atitlán, from sunrise hikes and cliff jumping to cacao tasting
Guatémala is known for its rich indigenous culture, scenic mountainous countryside, and its many volcanoes (37 exactly, the most of any Central American country) and you can experience all that makes the nation famous in one place: Lake Atitlán. The volcanic lake is situated in the Guatémalan Highlands among the Sierra Madre Mountain Range and surrounded by three volcanoes: San Pedro, Atitlán, and Tomlimán. Bright blue waters lap onto the shores of traditional Mayan villages that line the lake. Although remote and rural, Lake Atitlán packs a punch for travelers eager to tackle sunrise hikes, scoop up Mayan textiles, immerse in Guatémalan culture, and spend time in nature.
Before you go, it’s good to get your bearings with the lakeside villages so you can choose the area that’s best for you to stay. San Pedro La Laguna is the liveliest village with the largest number of backpackers, bars, and hostels; San Marcos La Laguna is the hippie haven stacked with yoga studios, holistic centers, and wellness workshops; San Juan La Laguna is a cultural hub that blends traditional Mayan life with enough restaurants, shops, and tour agencies to keep travelers in the loop; and Panajachel is the bustling market hub that welcomes the daily influx of travelers and local tourists.
Don’t worry too much if you’re unsure of where to stay — boats run constantly between all the villages, making travel between all the lakeside communities very easy. Choose your home base and gear up for a week of adventure, culture, and never-ending scenery in Guatémala’s Lake Atitlán.
Day one – Cliff jumpingPhoto: Fiona Mokry and Matyas Rehak/Shutterstock
From wherever you chose to stay, hop a boat over to San Marcos to kick off your day in Cerro Tzankujil Nature Reserve. The protected hilly expanse is only a 10-minute walk from the San Marcos’ pier and commands a small entrance fee of 15 Quetzales (about 2 USD). Once inside, walk the pebbly paths along the water to find uninterrupted views of the surrounding volcanoes. Trek upward to the Mayan altar, a circular mound of stones upon which candles are burned, situated at the highest point in the preserve. Carry on deeper into the reserve to a high wooden platform suspended roughly 50 feet above the lake. If you dare, take a running start and launch off the platform into the crystal-clear water below. You’ll probably have some fellow travelers sitting on the nearby rocks, cheering you on and watching the show. After you overcome your first-jump jitters, you’ll be lining up to do it again.
Part of Cerro Tzankujil’s appeal is its lack of development and infrastructure. After you get your adrenaline fix, find a peaceful spot to take in the endless mountain views while you sprawl out on a sunbaked rock.
Day two – Sunrise hike up Indian NosePhoto: Fiona Mokry
Catch the sunrise from Indian Nose (La Nariz del Indio), sometimes referred to as Mayan Face (El Rostro Maya), a rocky perch with face-like characteristics and the highest point in Lake Atitlán. While the 3:00 AM wake-up call is rough, you won’t regret it once you reach the lookout point. Since the majority of this excursion takes place in the dark, it’s advised that you book this trip through one of the travel agencies in any of the villages. They provide transportation to the trailhead in Santa Clara and a local guide to lead the way up the cliffs. While Guatémala is a relatively safe country to visit, petty theft does occur sometimes and tourists are warned against walking alone between the villages — especially at night.
The hike to Indian Nose takes between 30 and 45 minutes. You’ll likely hear and see other groups of people as you get closer to the top. After you summit, find the perfect vantage point along the cliff edge or settle into a spot on the simple, two-story wooden platform. Coffee and pastries are passed around by the local guides while everyone waits patiently for the sun to peak over the horizon. Lake Atitlán becomes more and more visible as the sun spills over the lake, and the three iconic volcanoes stand in stark contrast against the pale sky. Daylight finally breaks and reveals perfect panoramas of the striking landscape and many of the lakeside villages. There’s no better way to start the day.
Day three – Co-op hopPhoto: Fiona Mokry
Lake Atitlán is the center for women weaving co-ops and coffee co-ops. Don’t pass up the chance to visit, take a free tour, and watch demonstrations of how the products are cultivated.
Traditional textiles are sold all over Guatémala, and Lake Atitlán is the source that supplies many of the markets and shops throughout the country. Swing by Atitlán Women Weavers in San Pedro and admire all the handmade scarves, blankets, bags, and clothing. Watch as the weavers perform a free, 20-minute demonstration of how they harvest the cotton, prepare the thread, naturally dye it with color derived from plants and tree bark, and use a backstrap loom to weave beautiful, sustainable textiles. After a morning in San Pedro, take a 10-minute boat ride to San Juan (costing roughly $2) to visit another weaving co-op, Casa Flor Ixcaco. Here you’ll find a different selection of handwoven goods and meet some of the talented weavers.
Continue the co-op hop and check out La Voz Coffee Co-op (Cooperativa la Voz que Clama en el Desierto), also in San Juan. Established by 20 farmers in 1977, the coffee farm and production center sits on the outskirts of the village. Tour the co-op, see how the coffee plants are organically-grown and harvested, and learn about the farmers’ mission to uphold sustainable production. End the tour with a visit to the on-site café for a cup of La Voz’s finest brew.
Day four – Day trip to Chichicastenango MarketPhoto: Laura G.Robe/Shutterstock
Despite its location in a small, rural town, the Chichicastenango Market (also known as “Chichi Market”) is one of the biggest in Central America. It’s a two-hour drive from Lake Atitlán, but it’s worth the trip to get your hands on the country’s biggest selection of high-quality handicrafts, textiles, wood carvings, pottery, and jewelry. Chichicastenango has been a trade center for hundreds of years, eventually morphing into a melting pot of vendors from different ethnic groups.
Every Thursday and Sunday hundreds of vendors set up shop around the town’s central plaza and put on a truly impressive display. It’s the perfect place to shop for some souvenirs. Locals also frequent the market to pick up fresh produce, animal products, household necessities, and toys, so take the time to wander around and observe the daily life and local customs in rural Guatémala. Cap the day with a visit to Santo Tomás, the 16th century church in the center of the plaza and a revered Mayan heritage site still used today.
Day five – Kayak Lake AtitlánPhoto: Simon Dannhauer/Shutterstock
You can admire the beauty of Lake Atitlán from a variety of places (restaurant decks, waterfront bars, boat dock), but nothing beats paddling out on the water and admiring a 360-degrees view of the volcanoes, rolling green hills, and sparkling blue water. Kayak rentals are available in most of the villages, and Mayan Dynasty Tours in San Juan and Maya Travel in San Pedro both offer guided tours. If you find yourself in San Marcos, you can take advantage of the kayak rentals at the entrance of Cerro Tzankujil Nature Reserve. Keep your eyes peeled for local fishermen casting their nets and hauling in the day’s catch.
Day six – Spa DayPhoto: The Yoga Forest
A number of yogi expats and holistic practitioners have transformed San Marcos la Laguna into some sort of spiritual center, and there’s no better place to relax. Start the day with a waterfront massage at East West Center, an unassuming holistic spa in a peaceful nook off San Marcos’ main drag. Check out their health store on your way out, stocked with all kinds of all-natural, oil-infused creams.
In the afternoon, wander up to The Yoga Forest, a premier retreat center perched high above San Marcos with prime views of Lake Atitlán. The 25-minute trek is worth it for the views alone, but a guided meditation session followed by a Vinyasa or Restorative Yin Flow class is the cherry on top. Further the experience with a traditional ceremony; discover the power of Ceremonial Cacao (AKA “The Food of the Gods”), or cleanse your body and soul with a Temazcal Ceremony, an ancient Mayan steam bath. The Yoga Forest also offers climbing courses and SUP expeditions around the lake if yoga and meditation aren’t your thing.
Day seven – Treat your tastebuds and indulge in culturePhoto: Fiona Mokry
Spend some quality time in San Juan on your last day. It’s one of the smaller and less-frequented villages around the lake, but the authentic food and cultural activities can fill a whole day. First, fill your belly at Restaurante Xe Kuku’ Aab’aj, an humble eatery with a rooftop deck overlooking the water. They serve the best ceviche and chicken pepián in Lake Atitlán — at local prices. After a savory meal, satisfy your sweet tooth and learn the significance of cacao in Mayan culture at Licor Marrón Chocolate. Watch artisans transform cacao into chocolate (or reserve a spot for the hands-on workshop and make your own) and then sample a traditional hot chocolate, the preferred method of chocolate consumption in Guatémala. Thought to have descended from the gods, cacao is a popular and highly regarded food throughout the country. It comes in many forms, from steamy liquid to solid spiced bars. After the cacao lesson, pick up some bars of homemade chocolate spiked with chili, cardamom, and ginger and a few ‘cacao bombs’ — small cubes of pressed cacao — to recreate your own hot chocolate at home just by adding hot milk.
The art of food is just one of San Juan’s attractions. Residents also showcase their talents with depictions of Mayan history and ancestral traditions through murals and paintings. With the spare time you have left, wander around San Juan and admire the wall murals, or pop into a few of the art galleries scattered throughout the village. Learn more about indigenous Tz’utujil beliefs and how it translates into art by taking a workshop from any one of the studios. Before you leave San Juan, end the day with a quick 15-minute jaunt up to El Cerro de la Cruz — the highest point overlooking San Juan — to take in one last lake landscape before your trip comes to a close.
The post The ultimate week in Guatémala’s Lake Atitlán, from sunrise hikes and cliff jumping to cacao tasting appeared first on Matador Network.
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