Blogs from Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 5

Wow where to begin? We spent a couple of days chilling and wandering the cobbled streets of Antigua. We had an absolutely hilarious last night... We went back to Rainbow Rooms for what we thought was going to be a reggae night... It was pretty dead to begin with, just us, a rude American group and two extremely eccentric Guatemalan men. We got into a conversation with them, in a mixture of English and Spanish (mostly the latter) discussing everything from race, homosexuality and the positives of being a monk in India for three year. Our hilarious conversation ended up with us all in tears - literally - from laughing and an invitation the next day to their butterfly reserve in the mountains, which we politely declined due to the slight 50 year age difference. Alice ... read more

After a week in Xela, I decided that I needed to do something a little different for the weekend before starting Spanish classes. And where better to begin my Guatemalan travels than Lago de Atitlan, which everybody here has been raving about since I arrived? I got up early and caught the microbus to Minerva terminal, where various helpful drivers directed me to the bus to Panajachel. It was a forty minute wait on the bus, during which time vendors scrambled on and off, pushing up and down selling ice creams, sweets, tortillas, newspapers, drinks and essentially anything else portable. The journey took a few hours, then from Panajachel I caught a tuk-tuk to La Reserva Natural Atitlan. This is a privately owned park set in secondary forest over a coffee plantation. Trails across the hillside ... read more

Arrrrrrriiiiighttt! Rose and Lucy here, still in Antigua. After a violent but brief bug we're back in action! We're still taking it slow-Joe by spending the whole of yesterday chilling in a funky cafe/second-hand bookswap called the Rainbow Rooms. We were loving life so much that we went back there in the evening for an acoustic open-mic night which was SO much better than the cheesey ones you get in England. From local Guatemalan and Mexican singer song-writers to a very in-love Swedish couple and some crazily high banjo-playing eccentric. We had a slightly stressful walk home in the rain (how very dare it rain on us) after discovering that tuctucs unhelpfully stop running at night... But all was well due to Rose's fab sense of direction and a helpful Guatemalan shopkeeper. Today was fairly similar. ... read more

Woohoo we've arrived! The arrival was slightly stressful as my phone decided not to be able to send/receive texts or make calls so I didn't know when Rose was going to arrive. But with the help of the lovely Rob and Caz we managed to get in touch and turns out she'd just landed and was going through customs! I arrived at our hostel Casa Cristina to one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen over two volcano silhouettes (photo to follow we hope) and then there was a procession for Semana Santa with hundreds of people dressed in purple cloaks carrying huge religious monuments/statues. Not bad for my first few hours. I'd also broke into my Spanish on the hour drive here with my driver which was pretty satisfying. Our reunion was amazing and, ... read more

Yesterday was an exciting day. Yesterday I was reunited with my bag. Guatemala City airport sent it swaddled in cling film, covered in a variety of red stickers, directly to the door of my room. The important thing about my bag arriving was, of course, that it was full of lots of lovely donations for the Nuevos Horizontes shelter. And as yesterday was my first visit, I think that's perfect timing on the part of the airport. I met Allison, the volunteer co-ordinator, and the two other new volunteers outside El Cuartito cafe and we walked to La Democracia (where the main market is) to get the bus. The shelter is spacious, purpose-built house set in an almost Mediterranean landscape. At the moment, it's overflowing with small children, mostly boys, who were very excited to see ... read more