OK, Travelblog-pc stuff. i'm still not sure if a blog is a book or more like a play for the stage, or more a comic book, but hopefully, I can pull this travel-thing off. I see it as a writing challenge. And I do like to write. How do I know I like to write? I do it all the time. If its not case notes it's a book. If its not a poem its a play. If its not an article its a website. Writing is like water. Nothing to do but accept it and go with its flow. OK, [View Full Entry]

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It’s quite a peculiar feeling... At first, you think someone bumped into the chair you’re sitting in, then you notice that the table is also moving, slightly, back and forth. Finally, you notice that everything surrounding you is also animated with the same rocking motion. I instinctively looked out the front door of the internet cafe where I was sitting to check if a heavy truck was passing-by, that’s when I noticed that I wasn’t the only one noticing. It reminded me of that cliché scene in horror movies in which the main characters are calmly going about their busi [View Full Entry]

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Ik ben inmiddels goed en wel aangekomen! De vlucht naar ging prima. We (Rob, Yolanda, Merlijn en ik) waren rond 5.15 uur op Schiphol, waar mij nog een leuke verrassing wachtte, aangezien Suzanne (Tenkink) daar ook was. In Miami ging alles verbzingwekkend snel: veel sneller dan in Londen dus nog 3 uur wachten... Eerst maar even gaan vragen hoe ik aan een boarding kaart kon komen. Gelukkig maar, want blijkbaar was het toch vreemd dat ik die nog niet had. Maar alles werd geregeld (en op tijd want het vliegtuig bleek overboekt). Met een klein uur vertraging in Guatemala aangekomen, waar [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday the fellow Hosting in Guatamala e-mailed and asked, "What's your itinerary?" It seems he forgot. Maybe I did too. I depart at dawn. (that's a few hours from now, gotta pack). So far two people (one "Mr Anger Issues" from the Myss tour) have suggested that I be careful down there. I didn't tell them that I don't know HOW to be careful. I kind of make a report to go along with the flow, and it all works out. Come to think of it--maybe this is in my favor--I don't know--I don't know HOW to do anything. Well, [View Full Entry]

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Fútbol is like a drug in this country, as it is in most of the world besides North America. I am talking here of what us North Americans know as soccer and not of the abomination that is known as “American football”. When my alarm rang at 6:30am last Sunday morning, I struggled at first to remember why I was getting up so early, especially on a Sunday. Then I remembered: The Game. Quetzaltenango’s city team, Xelaju M.C., was playing against Municipal, from the capital city. The two teams were battling to see who would finish first at the end of [View Full Entry]

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Before I go on about Chichicastenango, I realized I forgot to explain why the local buses are called Chicken Buses. Basically anyone is allowed to bring aboard pretty much any kind of cargo which sometimes includes live chickens. You pretty much never know what to expect when you get on. I also forgot to show you a picture, this one isn´t that great, I have to take a better one, but you get the idea... Most of them are more colorful and have a woman´s name painted across the side, usually a daughter´s or wife´s. The same is for most of [View Full Entry]

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So Thursday morning I changed my mind about going to Chichicastenango for the market and decided to take the bus to Quetzaltenango to do some exploring. It is the biggest city in the western part of Guatemala, very close to the Mexico border. It is also referred to as Xela, that is what the indigenious people call it. I was quite unsure of my decision to go here cause I really had no idea what I was going to do there, but as usual I ended up having a great time. The city centre is absolutely amazing, all of the buildings [View Full Entry]

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It has been steadily cloudy for almost a week now… Here in the Highlands that means that it’s been cold. Although people keep telling me that it’s the beginning of summer here, they are also telling me that the real cold is about to start. Being from Canada, that seems more than a little contradictory to me until they explain that the distinction between ‘summer’ and ‘winter’ is made by one type of weather: rain. So, although some months of ‘summer’ are much, much colder that ‘winter’, it is generally sunny and dry during th [View Full Entry]

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Hola! Right now I am at what is said to be the most beautiful lake in the world, lago de atitlan. It is a huge body of water surrounded by volcanoes and many small villages that you can take boats to and visit or stay for the night. When I first arrived here I went to the village Santa Cruz La Laguna. It is a very tiny village, and most of the people don´t actually speak spanish, they speak in their mayan village language, I forget the name of it. Anyways, while there I stayed at this place on the water [View Full Entry]

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OK! First off I want to apologize for taking so long to write a new update. Problems with the blog site prevented me from doing a big update days ago. I left Ryan on the 21st in San Pedro at Lago de Atitlan first thing in the morning. It wasn't the best goodbye because he had picked up some kind of stomache bug the night before so as I was leaving he was quite sick. Made sure everything was OK then headed off to the dock around 8am. Landed in Panajachel and shopped around for a ride to Guatemala city. Found [View Full Entry]

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