Blogs from San Pedro La Laguna, Western Highlands, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean

So it was now my first night in a strange Guatemalan home with people I can’t really communicate with....I would be lying if I was enthusiastic at this point but I knew I had to give it a go. With saying bye to Karl and Alfie the same night it was a completely different feel to what I had been used to for the past few months. I walked 5mins out of the main area to the home, pushed open the corrugated iron door and walked up the alley, let myself into the house and sat in my room. The room was nice enough with a double bed but there was no natural light so had a bit of dungeon feel to it. There was a shower and a toilet in the hall which were ok ... read more

Wylie makes it through Guatemala and El Salvador Can you believe I’ve officially been gone for over a year now? After going to Mexico and Belize, we crossed the border by taking a local bus into Guatemala. It’s definitely very different here, and lots of the women still wear their traditional Mayan dresses that their ancestors used to wear. Our first stop was in Flores which is a tiny island in the middle of a lake. We actually spent Christmas here, too. The people here light LOTS of fireworks to celebrate. At first I really liked it, but then it made it hard to sleep on Christmas Eve. Poor Amelia still isn’t quite used to all the noise you hear when you’re traveling, so I had Jessie give her a pair of ear plugs so it ... read more

As the old saying goes, “Time flies when you’re having fun,” and that it does! It’s hard to believe we have been away for a year already, it feels like just a few months ago we were packing, moving and tying up loose ends to embark on the trip of a lifetime. We both agree that when you are out there experiencing new sights, sounds, smells and tastes the days may seem longer but the time goes by faster. While back at home, we could never understand how people could be gone for years and not get sick of it, not to mention each other! After walking a few days, or a whole 365 of them, in a traveler’s shoes we can now understand how easy it is to fall into the groove. We have fallen ... read more

Despite fears about our safety in Antigua, the first three nights we spent passed without incident. We had a moment of panic after the plane touched down when our hand luggage was missing but it turned up on a random seat about 5 rows in front of us. We’d organised a private car to take us from the airport in crime ridden Guatemala City to the tourist mecca of Antigua. Here we found narrow, cobbled streets with scattered ruins and churches every few blocks. The city lies 1.5km above sea level and is surrounded by volcanoes and green hills. Our hostel turned out to be dark and damp with too few toilets and our barred window looked out into the corridor. It did have a rooftop bar overlooking the city and free wi-fi which went some ... read more

After Pana we got a lancha across the Lake to San Pedro La Laguna a much small town nestled in the hillside. The hostel we stayed in had a great view of the lake and we had a hammock outside the room to laze about in. I´m now a big fan of hammocks. We kayaked for about 40 mins across the lake to a golden sandy beach. This beach was a strip of sand about a metre wide but the sun was out so we tried to make the most of it and started to tan hopefully. Although our hostel was very nice we were conned by the non-profit national park guide ´Johnny Hiker'(Juan Pablo) and paid too much for our room. He also tried to con us with our hike to the Indian´s nose by ... read more