Blogs from Antigua, Capital Region, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 4

Some of you of a certain age may remember a film in the early 90s starring Tom Hanks (and Meg Ryan, of course) called Joe Verus The Volcano where Joe (Tom Hanks), a man who believes he is dying, agrees to jump into an erupting volcano. Well, I’m not dying and I don’t plan to jump into an erupting volcano…but I was willing to climb one. But I had to get there first. Mindful that I now had just under a month to get to Cancun with a whole lot of stuff to see in between, I’ve been moving quickly. Since I left Copan Ruinas, I had been travelling to a new place every single day and it has been exhausting. And once again I was only going to stay one night in my next destination; ... read more

Why are the buses in Guatemala called Chicken Buses? The Guatemalan buses, also known as Chicken Buses, are a bit interesting. Therefore I have dedicated to dedicate an entire blog entry to them. As a bonus they are also very photogenic so the pictures which accompany the text are pretty good. Making it possible to upload photos and make them available to our friends and relatives was the main purpose when we started this blog in 2006. So in line with our original plan with the blog we now post 26 pictures of Guatemalan buses. In the USA they have buses dedicated solely for transporting school children. They are yellow and they have the words "School Bus" written on them. The regulations for the school buses requires the authorities to replace the school buses after either ... read more

Christmas Blog Letter - 2015 December 21, 2015 Dear Friends and Family, This has been a difficult letter for me to write as I review the past year’s events; for those who may not know, John passed away on May 4 of metastatic prostate cancer, peacefully at home according to his wishes. We were blessed to have had fifty years of wonderful adventures together raising two amazing children who have given us three amazing grandchildren: Erika and Jose’s son Daniel is ten and live in Austin, TX and Matt and Megan live in Antigua, Guatemala with Lorelai Pearl (Lola, age 3 3/4) and Cash (age two). Last year’s letter ended by saying we were leaving for Chile and Antarctica shortly and indeed, we did just that. We spent six days on our own in the Lake ... read more

Just two nights, one day in Antigua before heading to San Pedro La Laguna for a few days round Lago Atitlan. The shuttle to Antigua wasn't the longest bus ride (took about 8 hours), but definitely the least comfortable so far! We have spent the day getting laundry done (yay- clothes don't smell cavey anymore!) and wandering around the city. It's a very pretty colonial city, with lots of church ruins and churches that have been rebuilt, pastel coloured shops and houses and cobbled roads. The city used to be the capital, before it was nearly destroyed by an earthquake in 1773. It's surrounded by 3 volcanoes, including one active one, but the clouds meant that we couldn't really see anything!! Very excited to be at Lago Atitlan tomorrow for my birthday :)... read more

The flight into Guatemala City was pretty spectacular because the plane had to skirt around two lofty towers of cumulonimbus clouds with the sun setting behind them. The greater intensity of Guatemala City was immediately obvious at the airport. More pushy taxi touts, and more serious frowns on the crowd. Bill's friend David met us at the exit and took us across town to his family's lovely home in a gated community within GC. They generously provided a lovely meal of beef, wild mushrooms and asparagus souffle, and more alcohol than one could respectfully accept. We drank a lot, and really enjoyed the Guatemalan rum "Zacapa" as well as a Spanish sherry in the solero style called "Cardinal Mendoza". Later when I visited Dan Murphys on the web, I was only able to find Romate Cardinel, ... read more