We head to the Biotopo del Quetzal an area of cloudforest where the national bird of Guatemala, the Quetzal, is supposed to live. It's damp with mist and very refreshing out of the sun No luck seeing the Quetzals though. We then start the long journey back to Antigua, tired but having had a really good weekend. [View Full Entry]

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The hills here are formed from limestone so there's a mass of underground cave systems in the area. We're heading to the Cahabon caves. Silly me thought it would be a nice little walk through a large cave system where we could easily spend time looking at the stone formations, but no, it's much more exhilarating than that. A few bats are disturbed by our entrance and swoop out of the way. Armed only with candles we plunge on, and plunge is the right word. The heavy rains have come early to Guatemala this year and so the caves have much [View Full Entry]

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School finished at 1200. I'm ready for a break. After a week of intensive studying my brain feels like it's reached saturation point so I'm looking forward to a weekend away in Semuc Champey. There are four of us going together from the school; Kiyomi (a 25 year old teacher from California), Eric (a 37 year old American GP living in London) and Rob (a 23 year old medical student from Canada). Our driver is called Adolfo. Semuc Champey is known as the green heart of Guatemala and it's a beautiful place. We drive along roads which seem to drop way [View Full Entry]

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1200 am - Monday 22nd May - I walk out of Guatemala City airport tired, grubby after a 15 hour flight and apprehensive. The plane was delayed - so will the driver who was supposed to pick me up still be waiting for me? I've heard bad things about Guatemala City, especially about the dangers of arriving late at night and don't really want my first experience of Latin America to be being robbed of all my belongings. Paranoid? Possibly. One tip for anyone reading this who is thinking of coming to Latin America - don't read the British Foreign Office [View Full Entry]

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