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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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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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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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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We picked up Lydia and company in the morning and made our way to Tecpan. An hour and a half later, we arrived and went straight to the cemetery to visit my grandfather´s grave (my mom´s dad). Afterwards, we kept going for another two hours to Panajachel. We arrived around 2pm, and would have arrived earlier, had it not been for the construction on the highway and the directional signs being removed as a result. We passed up the Panajachel exit by like 30 to 40 minutes, and had to make our way back, so we lost valuable time there. And [View Full Entry]

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On sunday I woke up with no voice and a horrible cough. I went to the pharmacy and was given meds. This is me with them. Crazy thing...all I did was go in and tell the guy behind the counter my problem and he came back with antibiotics and some cough medicine'. No doctor necessary! I had my last spanish class on Sunday morning. It was a struggle because I didn´t have a voice, but I got through it and my teacher had me writing a lot more than talking. Every day during my break I had been running back to [View Full Entry]

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We got our wake-up call at 5am and decided to skip breakfast at the hotel and take a gander at the island of Flores, located right across the lake from us. We only had 20 minutes to take a peek, but it sufficed. Then it was off to the airport and eventually we made it back to Guatemala City at 9am. Lydia and company hung out with her family, and Fabi and I hung out with my family. We rested a bit, and then made our way to the cemetery to visit my grandmother (my mother´s mom) and my great aunt [View Full Entry]

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Here I am in Antigua, Guatemala! I've been here for a few days now. I have relaxed in the beautiful Central Park, enjoyed the international cuisine (I'm not sure that they even serve rice and beans here!), been propositioned by an aggressive Guatemalan, and walked in circles. Although Antigua is built on a very practical grid system, most of the streets look the same and there are very few signs. It is amazing and beautiful to see the historic buildings and cobbled streets. My hostel is quiet, clean, and very nice. I met up with a girl today and we stopped [View Full Entry]

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BE SURE TO VIEW THE EXTRA PHOTOS ON THE BOTTOM OF THIS TEXT!! ************************************************ Today we woke up at 4am and by 5am we were out the door to pick up Lydia, Max and Ivy and head out to the airport. We arrived at the airport at 6:05am for our 6:30am domestic flight to Tikal. Much to our surprise, we were told that we couldn´t board the plane because they had closed the doors at 5:55am. We missed our flight by 10 minutes. Not a great start. After pondering our options, we were put on the 10am flight, so we had [View Full Entry]

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