Today was our last (YAY!) travel day. We were all happy about that as it was getting a bit tiring being in the van all the time. We had a half hour boat ride back to Panachal, then about a 3 hour van ride to Antigua and we would be FREE from travel. FREE AT LAST! Kidding. sort of. This last van was very small with little leg room (and that’s saying a lot coming from me) with dark windows. I must admit I was feeling quite claustrophobic in it and restless. Then Justin put on a video (it actually had a small TV screen) of Mel Gibson’s movie the Apocalypto from 2006. Justine figured after all the Mayan sites we had visited (3; 2 in Honduras and one in Guatemala) we would appreciate seeing an ... read more

Up at 05:40 again, coffee, breakfast and off to the airport to fly to Guatemala City, then continue by van to Lake Atitlan. Airport was entertaining; they have a single lady physically checking bags before you even enter the airport, and she opens it up, feels around in 2 or 3 places and then hands it back to you. Funny as really, it’s so not useful for catching anything, but hey, easier then dealing with American airports! Then we checked in, wandered through security (with water and a fresh delicious coffee!) and waited for our flight. Random Thought of the day: Guatemalans do love their deep fried chicken! Every where you go there are shops, stands, street vendors (literally) in tiny villages selling deep fried breaded chicken. Sure there are not a shortage of chickens here ... read more

As I had mentioned previously, I had dropped my camera out of my lap on the bus on day 2, and while the LCD screen was shot, we thought the camera was still working. I couldn’t change any settings as there was no menu to look at, but I could take photos and when I downloaded them they were OK. Larry has the same body as me (Rebel XTI) just a year older, and he offered very generously to swap as he shoots in full auto, so doesn’t need the menu. Because I shoot in manual I do. So we swapped cameras for the day, kept our own lenses. My camera would take a photo for Larry then shut off. So we swapped batteries, and it seemed to fix itself then started doing it again. Long ... read more

Next day we were up early, wanted to be on the road by 07:00 as it was another long travel day. Justin had figured out that if we went back to Guatemala, instead of up to Honduras we would save ourselves about 1.5 to 2 hours of driving. So we did 3 countries in one day, all by about 2pm! What was super cool was we stopped at this Artisans village, in Los Palmas to go see a cooperative there. They create everything by hand, from scratch and a non-machine styled factory if you would. Of course all locals are hired, and get paid better than the minimum wage, and work in clean, safe settings and some even bring their babies to work with them. This cooperative sells to many place in North America; the biggest ... read more

05:00 is early - but when you know you are traveling it makes it that much easier. Justin our amazing CEO (Chief Experience Operator) had arranged for coffee for us; however it was glorified crayon water - thankfully I travel with Starbucks instant coffee so added some (yes I don’t change). Away we went, but managed to find a coffee shop in the square that was open at 06:00 so we got REAL coffee. The irony of destinations that produce coffee is they export almost all of it - and leave the crappy stuff here. So people come to places like Guatemala expecting to drink amazing, incredible coffee only to find out it’s Nescafe:-( ..... But coffee shops you can usually get it - and we ALL know how much I worship my coffee, so any ... read more