Blogs from Capital Region, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 9

April 17th (I wrote this before I found out about Opie, so figured it needed to be posted to my dear followers) Yay! Our bike riding excursion to the coffee plantation and the smaller villages was today! Yipee - exercise in the hot blistering sun at 3,500 feet elevation! woot-woot! And once again I booked this! We had breakfast, then walked up to meet OldTown Outfitters and walked a few blocks to get our bikes. Larry’s bike wheel was semi flat and asked to have it filled. The guy couldn’t fill it (kept pssstttttt slowly) and said Gee I have to get you a new bike as your tire is flat. (you think?) Renting bikes in any developing nation is always entertaining; this was not the worst or the best vehicle, however it would do. I ... read more

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

Our Arrival The bus from Guatemala City dropped us at the bus station near the market. The town is a few minutes walk past the market stalls. Where We Stayed Hotel Posada Refugio II - Down a small street opposite the Terrace hostel on 3a Calle Poniente between Calzada Santa Lucia and 7a Avenue Norte. Q100 for a double room with private bathroom and hot showers. Kitchen available on the roof terrace. No internet but we picked up free wifi the whole time we were there. Try and get a room upstairs. Posado Vero - Down the other small street on Calle Poniente. Q80 for a room with shared bathroom. Really strong internet and a bit of a roof terrace with laundry sink. What We Did Walked around town looking at the many churches and ruins. ... read more

Part 2 - after all it's a long journey with a lovely 6 hour layover in my fav airport:-) Back to the airport albeit briefly; still in Edmonton and I had purchased a new TSA lock as mine had died that morning. What I didn’t realize was the instructions were not on the cute little booklet that came with the lock (how silly of me to assume) but were on the original packaging. This cute elder couple saw me and quickly figured out my dilemma and started giggling with me. So true to Ned’s nature, I went back to the container that was fortunately recycling and praying that other people respected the same, stuck my arm inside and dug round for my instructions. I came up gleefully to the giggles of a few people, but i ... read more

Wczoraj dotarlem do Antigua. Przejazd chicken busami zajal mi jakies 2,5 godziny. Po raz pierwszy jechalem chcicken busami, ktore maja plazme w srodku :-) na ktorej leca umilajce podroz teledyski. Sama Antigua jest miastem niezwykle przyjemnym i pieknym. Pelno jest w nim brukowanych uliczek zamknietych dla ruchu kolowego, skwerow, ladny zocalo oraz itp. Dwa wulkany Agua i Fuego gorujace nad miastem dodaja niesamowitego uroku. Kiedys byla to stolica calej centroamerykanskiej kolonii hiszpanskiej. Az do roku 1773 kiedy to silne trzesienie ziemi - a w zasadzie cala seria trzesien ziemi - zniszczyla to miasto. Wtedy tez zapadla decyzja o opuszczeniu miasta i przeniesieniu stolicy do Guatemala City. Nie wszyscy sie jednak temu podporzadkowali i ci co zostali probowali odbudowywac miasto. Do dzisiaj miasto jest w bardzo duzym stopniu odbudowane, a jedynymi wiekszymi pozostalosciami po trzes... read more