As we drive through the dusty little streets of Lanquin the shuttle driver asked us whether we were on our way to El Retiro, the hostal we were planning on staying at. We smiled and nodded sheepishly knowing what predictable gringos we were. Dropped at the top of the small hill we made our way towards the thatch-covered roof of the main building. The place was a series of small wood bungalows some with private porches and hammocks everywhere. On our way down the small path we passed horses and roosters that roamed free on the ground. The place overlooked a [View Full Entry]

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Lago de Atitlan is considered a very sacred and spiritual place by the Maya people, so I am told. In fact, they consider it "the navel of the world." This of course makes it one of four or five "navels of the world" I have visited or heard tell of, and I have no doubt that there are as many more as there are ancient indigenous cultures, making the world a many-naveled thing, and conjuring images of countless umbilici waving like tentacles into the reaches of space. Nonetheless, there is no denying the spectacular setting the lake provides, nor, for lack [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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Six weeks of travel comes to an end. What a great time we had. [View Full Entry]

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Our last excursion was a trip to Volcan Pacaya. Trudy and Jasmine stayed in Antigua, the boys and I were joined by our Canadian friends and Sam from Belgium for the trip. Hiking in sandals was a pain (literally) but it was not worth lugging boots along the last 6 weeks for this. [View Full Entry]

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We left Quetzaltenango in the morning but not before stocking up on bus food at this tiny Mennonite bakery on the way. Don't remember exactly where it was, but it was only open on Tuesday's and Friday's from 9-6. We got there at ten minutes to nine and got to watch them unloading the trucks. If everything they unloaded tasted as good as the stuff we bought, I should have robbed the whole store. Huge doughnuts the size of a softball overflowing with creams and custards and jellies, whoopie pies, the best cookies I've ever had cakes, pies, yogurt, jams, granola. [View Full Entry]

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So, what shall I tell you about Semana Santa in Antigua? Well there were the alfombras... Already explained those, right? Well there were lots and lots of those, until it seemed that every foot of road was taken up by an alfombra, or was occupied by people building an alfombra, or contained the scattered and smudged ruins of an alfombra. These people are alfombra building machines I tell you. Then there were the processions. Lots and lots of those too. Each one involved hundreds of people lining the roadside, either wearing their sunday best, or in great purple KKK style robes [View Full Entry]

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Have you ever bruised your heels? I think that when I let go of that taxi, those first few paces when I managed to keep my feet under me, before going down in a sprawling heap, my heels hit the ground so hard that I bruised them. And let me tell you, it sucks. I've been limping around the badly cobblestoned streets of Antigua for three days now, and the thing is - if your heels are bruised, when in the hell do they get time to heal. Anyways, for my regular, faithful readers, I wanted to warn you that by [View Full Entry]

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Hey everyone. Took vacation into central Guatemala, to Coban. Its jungle esque in character, very tropical. 17.03.05 Travelled here by First class bus. Still only 40 quetzales, 3 quid! Much space. Awesome views, it was very sandy and dusty and then an explosion of green, so many shades it was unreal. Marge (Margarita) made me and Baptiste 2 sandwiches for the trip, which was so nice of her. We joked that it might contain a love potion! We arrived and found accomodation for 22Q each per night. Thats about 1.50 pound each! Its very basic and quite funny, and we realsied [View Full Entry]

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