Nach einen kurzen Abstecher in Santiago, ein weiters kleines Dorf am Lago, sind wir nach Xela aufgebrochen. Dort haben wir durch Edgardo, einem Freund den wir hier kennengelernt haben, in einem aufgelassen SOS-Kinderdorf fuer 2 Tage schlafen koennen. Edguardo arbeitet naemlich fuer SOS-Kinderdorf. Es is echt extrem fein das wir einen guatemalteken als Freund hier haben weil der hat die connections. Am Montag ist dann in Xela die Post abgegangen. Am Nachmittag sind wir zur Feria gefahren - so eine Art Jahrmarkt - und am Abend war dann grande fiesta. Zuerst waren wir noch in einem geilen Park [View Full Entry]

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Quetzaltenango is the name of the town on the map, but the locals call it Xela. This is going to be a long one guys...with lots of photos. I´ve been here for a week and I´m just now getting to the blogging. I have done so much this week, so i´ll try to just hit the highlights. I met two awesome girls (Sarah and Rachel) on the chicken bus from San Pedro to Xela. They happened already know some people who were taking spanish classes in town, so it has been really nice to have a big group of people to [View Full Entry]

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San Miguel Allende is a very beautiful town. Almost Moroccan in style with roof gardens and narrow entrances to opening courtyards with cafés, stalls and shops to explore. However before this we need to get there and the road works means diversions through narrow cobbled (more like rocked) streets in small side towns. Then we need to navigate through San Miguel Allende itself. This took only two attempts. The hotel is indeed an old converted monastery and while basic the rooms surround and large courtyard, now festooned with motorcycles. No luxuries like air conditioning or too much hot [View Full Entry]

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“How do I weave the ordinary into a story worth writing about; worth reading?” This was the thought that ran through my head as I rode back on a chicken bus from Las Fuentes Georginas. Fuentes Georginas is a natural hot springs about forty-five minutes outside of Xela. The water is heated by the volcano and a few pools of stone have been constructed around the fountainhead. To get there we need to take a 25 minute chicken bus to the pueblo of Zunil. (For those of you who don’t know, a chicken bus is a decommissioned American school bus. The [View Full Entry]

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We took a shuttle from Antigua to Panajachel, or Pana as it is known, on Thursday afternoon, September 10th. We found a nice hotel room with a shared bath at Mario's Rooms less than a block away from the shuttle station in Pana and settled down for the night there. It had a beautiful courtyard full of plants. The next day, we went to Santiago de Atitlan because most of boats were going there at the dock and we wanted to see other towns around the lake. (Actually, there were 2 docks and the public boats going elsewhere on the lake [View Full Entry]

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Another interesting border crossing where you queue to pay and leave one country and then walk a few hundred metres to the next border, where you queue and pay to enter it. Guatemela is immediately different, with lots of ranches/farms, white cowboy-hatted farmers on horses and fields of maize on cleared jungle hills. After arriving on the small pretty island of Flores, we spent the afternoon cooling down in a hotel pool (our tour leader has connections!) drinking cocktails. I normally don't like margaritas but somehow they taste a lot lot better over here! The mayan riuns of Tikal deep in [View Full Entry]

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This morning, we were all up at the crack of dawn, eager to leave the hotel. We ¨showered¨ with antibacterial wipes and left our Happy Home, not without taking a group photo as a momento in front of it. Halfway back to the city, we stopped in Tecpan to get some breakfast at Katok and continue the laughter from the night before. Then, we dropped Lydia and company off, and went home to shower!!!! Later on, we took a trip to the Mercado Central (downtown market) to do some last minute shopping. I didn´t take my camera, as downtown Guatemala isn´t [View Full Entry]

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It's three days since we officially made the transition from North to Central America, via Mexico into Guatemala. And what a change. The whole country is going bonkers in the run up to independence day, which is the 15th of September. They managed to kick out the Spanish in 1823, and it was obviously such a big relief that they celebrate it each year with a massive party lasting two days. It's a very poor country (the lowest GDP in all of Central and South America), but the friendliness of the people, the colours, and the subtropical volcanic landscape make it [View Full Entry]

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On Monday, September 7th, we flew from Miami to Guatemala City. Juan from Casa Bellona was there to pick us up and drive us to the guesthouse in Antigua. Antigua is an old town in the central highlands of Guatemala. It was the original capital of the country until a series of earthquakes in the early 1700's convinced authorities to move the capital to its current location, Guatemala City. Many of the churches and other buildings damaged by these earthquakes remain. The city is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a popular destination, with good tourist infrastructure, and some English [View Full Entry]

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We arrived to the turtle project in Hawaii (in Guatemala, not in US!) on the 31st and stayed there two nights for ¨training¨. It is Olive Ridley turtle season but they also get some Leatherbacks during their season. The first night there, there was a nest of turtle hatchlings in the hatchery which we had to measure their lengths, record and then release the turtles on the beach by the ocean. They were so small, they fit in the palm of your hand, and surprisingly quite strong flippers. Typically once they hatch, they have a day or two to start eating [View Full Entry]

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