So I arrived in Lanquin after two long bus rides (one bumpy as hell) and made it to this place called El Retiro. It´s a lodge with bungalows and dormitories for travellers just outside of Lanquin on the side of a crystal clear river. The reason I came here was to visit Semuc Champey which is a series of natural pools and waterfalls that you can swim in. There are also tons of hiking trails around the area with lots of different flowers and wildlife I have never seen before (there was this one spot that had so many bright orange [View Full Entry]

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Caldo de Calzado I'm finally starting a special section I've been thinking about doing since I began this trip. The section will be devoted to my discovery of this country's cuisine. Since my trip is pretty low budget you can bet that most of the stuff I'm writing about will be too. But food (and drink) are the things I'm likely to splurge on too. My other weakness is for the weird stuff. If I've never seen it, tasted it or even heard of it, you can bet I'll be ordering some if I can afford it. The title comes [View Full Entry]

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Coban is a beautiful city. Old colonial houses, a national parc (?!) and a small finca right in the centre of town which is surrounded by lush, rolling green hills and countryside. But something was off about Coban. Somewhere along the line it missed the mark. The place was a business centre for exporters of coffee, cacao and cardamom so noisy trucks seemed to rumble through the town from dawn till midnight. The local were "latino, not Guatemalan" was the way Chris put it. The affluence meant more Americanisation, cell phones clipped to belt loops and pounding dance tunes coming from [View Full Entry]

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After spending Monday recovering from dragging ourselves up and down the volcano, we set off yesterday morning for the Biotopo de Quetzal. A hair-raising two hours careening around corners on the best paved road in Guatemala had us on the outskirts of Guate city, where we had to disembark for reasons of an urgent biological nature. So noon found us standing by the side of the highway in the scorching sun trying to get one of the endless stream of buses to stop and take us the rest of the way into the center. Eventually, some kind bus driver took pity [View Full Entry]

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Heading straight for Tikal in one trip seemed a little excessive. We took a bus trip to Coban, a town of some 40,000 people in the southern highlands. The area is reputed to have some of the best scenery in all of Guatemala. After 5hrs coach journey from Antigua I was tired and had a headache from drinking too little water during the day, the bus dropped us off at the bottom of a steep hill. At the top of the steep hill was where we needed to be. After struggling up the hilll in the dust and heat, I sat [View Full Entry]

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