Carmen and Harold

As we wind down, we are gathering our general impressions of this wonderful country and these wonderful people. We made many new friends, both of other travelers, and of people who live and work here. We found the people of Guatemala to be warm, friendly, open, hardworking, and smart. Except for the "incident," on the bus, we had not trouble with anything. The food was great, people were warm and helpful when we were lost or needed information. We always got correct change, and helpful advice. We wandered about on back roads, in the thick of the markets, and trails. By the end of the trip we would stand by the side of the road and flag down a chicken bus, and actually get to our destination! Of course we used normal traveler common sense, (except ... read more

Last night we had dinner at a place owned and run by musicians. The food was good, great triple chocolate brownie, and the music was phenominal. It was "traditional." They had a guitar, flutes, drums, tiny instruments like guitars, not ukeleles, and those pipe things from the Andes, that look like they are made of bamboo. Two of those had pipes, (bamboo) as long as a man! It must have taken a lot of breath power to play those! Today we took a "chicken bus" to another village that specializes in textiles. Lots of the women showed us how they weave beautiful fabrics, and Harold bought a beatufiful piece of fabric. We had a picnic of fresh fruits we bought near the park there, and then flagged down another "chicken bus," to get back to Antigua. ... read more

Hi Travel fans! Today we started in Panajachel, and took a shuttle for about 2 hours back to where we started, Antigua. We had lunch at a good Korean place. Well it isn´t local, but it was good. Tonight we go to the restaurant we had our first dinner in Guatemala. They have native style music and good food. The place where we are staying is cute, but noisy, like a youth hostel, (no offense to any youths), so Harold bought some earplugs. Weather nice and warm and sunny, a little breeze to keep it from getting too hot. I´ve taken tons of pictures with my film camers. We had to buy 3 rolls of film today! Take care. ... read more

Today we got up early again to see the morning light on the lake. Carmen took an early morning swim in the pool. After a breakfast of mango pancakes for Carmen and bacon and eggs for Harold we took another boat ride to St. Pedro, another village we wanted to explore. On the way back the boat was packed and riding low. The waves splashed us and we got a little wet, but it was fun. One amusing incongruity I've noticed is that many of the indigenous people, like the women in traditional clothes, carrying huge baskets on their heads also have cell phones! On the boat today a traditional teenage girl was madly texting on her phone, and even changing the chips in it! Yesterday our guide taught us some words in the Tzutijil, a ... read more

Today we continued our journey on public transport and took a boat ride on the lake to a village called Santiago. We are staying at Posada de Santiago, and it rents out small stone cottages with fireplaces. Tomorrow we do another boat ride to an out of the way Mayan ruin. We hope all is well with everyone. ... read more

Yes, fair reader you read that correctly, although I debated whether to title it silly gooses. The good news is that nothing of real value was taken, and we still have our sense of fun and adenture, and we are still having fun. (after kicking ourselves for our lapse.) What happened was that yesterday was a travel day, we did 2 taxi s, 3 buses and one airplane, and one tuc tuc. The first bus was out of Guat. City and it was a nice bus, not a "chicken bus." We had turned down a taxi and private bus for the experience of traveling with the locals. Well we got on this bus and the ticket taker, conductor graciously showed us to our seats like we were important guests. He was so friendly and nice. The ... read more

Hi Travel fans! We are out of the jungle and back to a computer! Harold got to fulfill his dream of exploring Mayan ruins. We explored all day every day for about 4 days! It was absolutely astounding. We climbed up and down pyramids, temples, mansions, acropolisis, and mysterious buildings of all sorts. We had made arrangements to be guided at all of these places, some of which are way off the beaten track. You are hiking along a trail, listening to howler monkeys, and suddenly out of the jungle looms an ancient temple, and we are the only ones there! At the first one I kept expecting to be eaten by a jaguar because it was so wild. Then I got used to it. The jungle sounds, sights and smells. Our accommodation was really fun. ... read more