Best vacation spot ever

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Guatemala:

We ported in Puerto Quetzal, but the town sucked and so did San Jose which is the nearest “city,” so we immediately headed to Antigua, which was gorgeous. Our van driver stopped and picked up his wife along the way, apparently to have a vacation in Antigua or go to a bigger market or something. Lots of cab drivers picked up family members, which I thought was kind of interesting. Anyway, Antigua is an old city with colonial architecture and cobblestone streets. We tried to get a flight from nearby Guatemala City to the Mayan ruins of Tikal (In Star Wars: A New Hope, it was the rebel stronghold), but there were no seats available, so we took a 13 hour bus ride to the jungle where we toured the ruins in a complete downpour and got soaked to the bone. After Tikal, we saw the city of Flores briefly and then returned on bus to Antigua, arriving at 6 am. We met up with some friends of ours and walked around the city again before we left for Lago Atitlan. Along the way we met some friendly Irish guys, who we met up with in the town of San Pedro the next night. San Pedro was tiny, with maybe 4 or 5 restaurants and two real bars, one of which was owned by a group of crazy, weird hippies from all over the world. One of the things on the menu was Space Cookies…
Dad: You’ll appreciate this: They had just returned from Utila where they were at that massive festival that the bartender was telling us about when we were there in January.
Anyway, we hung out there for a little bit and then went back to our nice hotel and went to sleep. The next morning we went on a tour of the lake, visiting all of the towns and shopping at some markets. All of the goods that are sold at the markets across Guatemala were made there, which made them really cheap. I bought an outfit in the local style and walked around all day dressed in my new linen threads. We also swam to these hot springs that flowed out from under this cliff and into the lake, which was really cool because of the way that hot water gushed out and at times was overwhelming, but you could also feel the chilly yet comfortable water of the lake at your feet. Finally, we went to these cliffs on the island of San Marcos and jumped off them into the lake. When I came up, I discovered that my watch had fallen off on impact, but other than that everything was ok.

I’m in the middle of finals right now because the semester is almost over. I’ll be home soon, and I can’t wait to see you all again.
Love, Ryan

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