hello friends and family!! thanks for tuning in again for the adventures of shane and emo. I (shane) had been to beautiful lake atitlan 5 years ago and knew it was well worth seeing again despite the twisting, winding, indy car dreaming, cattle dodging 2 hour bus ride that was involved. the view out the window the entire way is breathtaking..most of that breath being taken as we careen dangerously close to the 500 foot straight down embankments. now, i am not one to get car sick but this is will test the stomach of any battle hardened travel vet... or [View Full Entry]

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Antigua is the cutest town ever. Think small Italy--cobblestone streets, tons of courtyards and and espresso cafes. We have been living with a very nice family, mother and two beautiful children (2 and 8) who do not speak any english, but we´ve gotten along very well. The home is very humble, but we love having hot water! Spanish school proved more difficult than expected, but we´re celebrating as today was the final day. 4 hours-day all week--(not exactly vacation). We all have individual teachers and we study on top of a building that overlooks the city. we were lucky enough to [View Full Entry]

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You know that email where the jar is empty and the professor fills it with large rocks and asks if it´s full, the class says yes and then he adds small pebbles to show it´s not really full and asks again...the class says yes and he adds sand and when you think there´s no more room at all, the water still fits in (showing there´s always more room in your life...)....anyways, that was my first impression of Guatemala. The chicken bus we were on was full and when people were completely squished in, 10 more people got on. a few moments [View Full Entry]

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we had heard this little town just a few miles from the guatemala border was full of nice people but geez.... our taxi driver was actually smiling while heaving our packs into the trunk. it made you almost paranoid as to what he may know that you don´t...but in the end, i guess it was just that happy water they drink here. each and everyone we ran into here was helpful, happy and eager to hear your stories of travel. we decided to take in the local mayan ruins that sat atop their tiny town. the walk was welcomed as we [View Full Entry]

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*quick note: the photos for San Pedro and San Ignacio are mixed up...diving was in San Pedro and school girls in San Ignacio...sorry.... leaving Mexico behind and hitting the open road of Belize was next in the plans. on the retired school bus we met drew and adrian..a couple of fun adventure seekers with a plan to find some perfect kite surfing conditions. instead they talked us into putting off our plans of heading to guatemala and do some world famous diving off of the islands of belize. considering our rough schedule...we bit. we decided on ambergris caye..a tiny fishing town [View Full Entry]

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Mahahual is definitely being groomed for a future as just another jump off point for fat tourists looking to blow a few bucks on pink tequila and bad tank tops. Some investor has purchased the port and pier and sealed it off from "real mexico" and painted it bright colors and pumped in music that will make the middle aged tap their feet and show some white skin. So, we jump off the ship...the first to do this in a while we came to find out. We were the talk of the town and from the first minute security was eye'n [View Full Entry]

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We were lucky to start out on the Splendor of the Seas out of Galveston and ate our way to Costa Maya with three fantastic days in between. Turned out a last minute cruise was 1/2 the price of a ticket directly to Guatemala. We had a great routine of eating, sleeping, eating, laying by the pool and then eating some more:-) We jumped off momentarily in Cozumel, but realized that endless food and a comfy bed were too important and we had to endulge while we could. Special thanks to Steve Pool (Joe) and Steve for making dinner so fun. [View Full Entry]

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