Blogs from Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 15

HE SAID... After a very long-haul flight from Hobart via Sydney and Dallas, we finally landed in Guatemala City at 7:30pm. The flight was basic to say the least, but it was comfortable. Our progression through customs was seamless, although we did get a scare when my pack was one of the last to appear on the baggage carousel. We made our way out of the airport, jumped into a transfer van and started out on the final leg of our outbound journey – a one hour drive to Antigua. After about 45 minutes we started our descent into the valley surrounding Antigua (dominated by three volcanoes – two dormant and one active), and within no time at all we were bumping along the cobbled streets of Antigua itself. We arrived at our hotel at 9pm, ... read more

If you’re a Kiwi, chances are that you’re having a chuckle at the title of this blog entry! Being woken up by bedbug bites (again!) at 5am isn’t the most ideal way to start the day. Then on the first of four chicken buses that I had to catch to Lago de Atitlan, I realised that I had left my favourite headphones back at the hostel. Having taken them for a swim on Roatan Island however, they weren’t quite working properly anyway and luckily I have a spare pair, even if they are just shitty regulation iPhone issue. But a bad day got worse when getting on the second chicken bus in Chmimaltenango. Getting off the first bus, a dude comes racing up to me asking where I am going. “Pana”, I tell him. He then ... read more

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

Leaving Carrillo beach was difficult for the clean, clear, medusa-free water (so we were told), and far enough away from the resident crocodiles in the mangroves to not bother us and the few others there we encountered. Alex, our trusty driver from our Rincon de la Vieja transfer, was efficient in his arrival at 2pm, and in Spanish we conversed over the 6 hours or so it took to reach Manuel Antonio. But for the countless trucks (camiones) on the road carting local rock for shipping from the Caribbean coast, and with several slow patches of driving later until Tarcoles, eventually the scenery gave way to increasingly dense rainforest and a rich red Pacific coast sunset. Dark and feeling tired, we rolled into our wonderful abode, Hotel Villas Lirio, by 8pm and behold, it had two ... read more

I was really lucky to be able to spend just over 5 weeks at the beautiful Lake Atitlan volunteering at a hostel, called La Iguana Perdida, in the lovely village of Santa Cruz. My journey to here from Flores, in Guatemala, was one the most eventful ones that I have ever had. I got an 8 hour night bus leaving at 10pm. I was the only backpacker on my bus which was fine, just got a few stares. I then arrived into Guatemala City alone in the dark at 6am, where there only seemed to be chicos about. They say to avoid the city and I get why. For the first time travelling I felt a bit panicky. I had another bus ticket to the lake, and even though I was asking in Spanish for help ... read more